Talons

 

photograph by: Norbert Rosing

On some days
It seems easier
To soar free -
To lift your feet
And scramble for balance
Than it is to stand
In the middle
Of a wind
That chases eagles
From high perches
Near the top
Of ancient trees
High places that offer
Clear sight and some safety
From crows and gulls
That pester them forever
No other birds are in the air today
Just the eagles
Talons tired from holding
Tight to favorite branches

Water

The Ocean lives at the bottom
While clouds float overhead
How is it the sameness of water
Gathers such varied experience
How is it every water particle
can know the brush of a bird’s wing
As well as the push of a fish’s fin

Expectations

This world is not what I expected it to be
It never was and probably never will be
I celebrate that
It helps me lose expectations
And blends new moments together
Into its recipe for life

Patience

How do trees survive
On a bare rock hill?
Their soil is hidden
Under the mountain's
Distant river of trees.
Bare rock shuns tall friends
That stand expressionless
On the cold face
Of mountain rock
As it burns slowly toward black
While collecting bright badges
Of mosses and mottled lichens
To fancy up its dreams.

Walking Stick

Traveller
Carry this stick
To guide you true
To steady your feet
To learn your footsteps
And to share your world

Joy

Open your heart to joy.
Watch the searing pain
Of pretending to be a rock
Pass blindly by.
Embrace the rich visitor
Fall in love with laughter
And let your body dance

Winter Sun

Two warm sunny hours
On a winter afternoon
While the river stands still
At the turn of its tide
Young widgeon float
With blind excitement
Along the river’s margin
In twos and threes and fours
Exploring every direction
Into an unknown future

Then I watched it happen
Like a yawn or a sigh it spread
Through the whole population
Not one bird was left out
First one then another was infected
By a neck stretch, flapping wings
Tail wags and a bath
As if to let spring know
It is safe to come now

These ancient movements
That offer modern survival
Are practiced under winter sun
Birds, bugs, buds and flowers
All do what life needs done
To honor spring’s arrival
And flourish without thought
As life’s longing sighs

A Blessing

A blessing
Can only be heard
If a soul is listening
Through an open heart

A Gift

Ancient song
Sung by the soul
Sounds richer
When pain stands to listen
Glad to be heard
Joyful to be known
Frightened to be seen
Glistens when it’s given

Walking

Pleasantly walking
A visitor to this land
Finding it familiar
Trusting these footsteps
Not to lead me
Into someone else’s dream
But into my own sweet death
Of this or that sort
Until asked
To change this mind
Again, again and again
Until we are too tired
To remember
Why we came here
In the first place

Colored Flame

Colored flame of feelings
Bright emotions dance
As life vibrates
Touching my strings
Inviting joy to sing
Through every log
That burns

Life's reflection

Hundreds of birds rested
On the river today
I did not count them or name them
But there were geese and ducks
Floating on the river
Its cold and wet stillness
Looked warm and buoyant beneath them
Just one day after the winter storm left

I noticed the birds noticing me
Then everything let go of self
And everything let go of other
Whispers dissolved into silence
And the world was alive again

We drifted quietly in that place
Floating within winter’s stillness
I watched life tending its own seeds
They were waiting and growing everywhere
Enjoying the stillness of winter
Anticipating early colors of spring

Life found its own reflection
Among the birds, within the river
Through the forest, above the sky
Within my body and under my feet
Not through outward communication yet
But through the unconscious practice or release
Of scattered fragments of behaviors yet to be -
Of incomplete actions still unable to express their meaning
Simple truths that betray life’s longing
For its own grand adventure
And secrets that remain embedded behind
Time-locked veils of collective unconscious
A bud here - a tail wag there
A small fish splashing
A Vee of geese following
Life’s promising thought
Across an endless sky

Source

The river is full again today
It welcomes new water everyday
Water blessed at its source
As we are blessed with breath
Simple gifts beyond love
Truth and freedom and peace
Can scald if we consume them
Let them shimmer beyond wonder
Just to see them is enough
To lead us to the river

Winter’s River

Walking by the river
A flotilla of ducks
Claim the river
In the mist and flat light of Winter

One hundred ducks are here
Just for this moment
Scattered over the top
Of a hundred meters of river

Widgeon whistle warnings
As Chester and I approach
All of the other ducks
Must have stayed silent

I never noticed the others
Till I passed by the last of them
And heard the back-alley belly laugh
Of young mallards behind me

Their bright colors lost
In the misted raft of ducks
That floated darkly
On the silver river

Wet winter ground squishes
Under carefully placed feet
Radio warnings of heavy rain
Have not made me wet yet

As I stand here thankful to notice
The smooth perfect beauty
Of water droplets on branches
Just above me where I walk

Physical World

Air informs flight
Flocking, soaring, hovering
The energy is our choice
But the lessons belong to air

Water teaches swimming
On the surface or underwater
We need to find our breath
And we want to learn the lesson

Land inside gravity
Smiles as we begin to crawl
And then walk and then run
Jumping and sitting as we go

Your rules are so perfect
We can almost forget
Who we really are
Inside this body you rule

The desire we carry to move
From here to there
Beckons us on
Accepting our blindness

Christmas Tree

Lit-up trees are beautiful
They can’t be understood
Christmas only lets truth stand
Privately remembering the land
Where the tree left its roots
While we feed it water
Not to help it live
But to protect us
From its bright flame of dry anger
Baubles and their boxes
Fondly remember Christmas’ past
They all belong to this time of year
In their own certain way
They shed all our past worries
And sing only with fondness
For those who are here
And for those who are not
How can you give such gifts
After we do such things to you

Moments of Knowing

We all have
Moments of knowing
Accepting a past
Understanding the present
Embracing a future
All three alive
In the seed
And the flower
Of a simple moment
Held in our heart
Untarnished by thought
A bird’s flight
Through the forest
Of all things
Gently embracing
All truth
In that precious moment
When everything
is still

Solstice

Winter in darkness
Strains at its solstice
A leather tether
In the casual hands
Of an unthinking child
Spinning the round weight
Of a heavy world
Faster and faster
Over a head filled
With full moon
The rest of us sleeping
Winter windows open
Listening to the world
Orbit and spin faster
Through the steady air
Hearing and feeling
Wind brush through tops
Of needled forest trees
This place stuck tight
To the surface of the land
Where we sleep safely
Fastened under covers
Tethered to our dreams

Friendship

I like
Walking beside you
On this path
That appeals to us both
But really it is
The echo of my laughter
In your eyes
That draws me on
Through the brightening
Landscape of our friendship

The Ocean

She welcomes every river
That flows down into
Her always open arms
Nourished by salt and abundance
Ten thousand voices hum
Life's ever-changing melody
With gratitude
As the ocean dances
Within the moon’s embrace
Spinning under stars
Born in darkness
Between sleeping breaths

Winter Leaves

Wet brown broken leaves
Stuck to the end of their branch
Single, separated flags
Flutter in the winter wind
Now long past autumn
And still they can’t fall
From where they’re stuck
To whippy branches
Way out there at the end
Of the tree’s most flexible part
They seem trapped
Like a fish on a line
The wind can’t blow them
Off their flexible perch
And gravity won’t pull them
They rest there in their death
Simply proving
That the sleeping tree lives
In spite of the earth
That calls the leaf back

Oregon Junco

Efficient in the cold
Followed close by the flit
Of your own white streaked tail
And all of your similar friends

The two white tail feathers
Are just a part of the package
So is your little black crash helmet
That seems no good at all

Frost

Frost’s thin shirt
Covers everything
Fuzzy cold crystals grow
Through winter’s sleeping stillness
Wind chimes hang heavy outside
One eye open
Listening for any sound
In the forest
So wanting to be found
By the slightest winter breeze
To free its inspired music
And urge the last bright
And colored leaves to
Fall through autumn’s spell
During earliest morning light
Before sun can prove its presence
And while salt lamp still
Shines through
Into the clear heart
Of fluorite that waits
Patiently beside me
While I sleep

Winter Wren

Tiny, fluffy and brown
You share your whole world
With your friend - a partner
Flitting from ground to branch
Chatting through the world
I notice one of your legs
Stiff and pointed back
It does not touch the ground
Its been broken a long time
I can tell that
I watch your mind fly
Effortlessly
Through the universe
It never trips on your leg
It never even points there
I feel your warm presence
What a big truth to know
Thanks for showing me
How you fly

Eagle

An Eagle circles
I know it well
Six years
It has lived here
In the trees
On its nest
With its mate
With its young
Calling to us
From its maker
Letting us know
There’s nothing personal
In its flight or perching
In its fishing or calling
It is just an eagle
Half as dangerous
As we can be
Still, it reminds me
I am mortal
Just unnoticed
On this precious land

Raining

Raining
Still raining
Always raining
Walking
In the grace
Of gentle rain
Unafraid
To find
Myself
Forever

Mirror

The light seems flat today
The river full and silent
A lone duck calls out
The urgency of fresh loss
In the tone of its voice
Deeply alone without reason
Lost to the river in this season
Unseen to all except the current
That tries to carry its soul into safety

I don’t know
What is missed
Or even what is lost
But this feeling
That is so very deep
Can never be hidden
From the world again
The hollow echo of joy
Inside of my heart

When wind returns
It will take this
Precious shadow
Plucked from deep
Within the river
Away with it again
But in this moment
It sings to me

Ancient Dance

/\
Geese
Fly in a Vee
Often shifting places
While the Vee remains true
In an unmeasured sky of knowing
A divining wedge cleaved from here and
Aimed for there -  A perfect ancient memory
That lives outside of time but can define a season
The season of coming                                                  
And the season of going                                                      
Both smooth turning points                                                          
 Attaching to either one always invites the wolf
And freezing or starving can find you only if chosen
Old age comes soon enough breathing gentle forgiveness

Snowflake

Three thousand
Three million
Three billion
Ice dancers twirling
Grace floating in air
Each crystal unique
Beauty in free fall
One died on my tongue
One bounced off my eye
  A beautiful sight
Early morning light
Snowflakes are sliding
Sideways out of air
Kissing black water
Embracing the river
  Rushing warm greetings
Each frozen spark
Shedding uniqueness
Each crystal thought
Dreamed in the air
Before it returned home
  To join Grandfather River
In the irresistible
Journey of joy
Through sameness
And change

Winter Ducks

Winter ducks float by
Across a rippled grey sky
Below the dike I walk on
Just beyond the narrow marsh
That lives along the river’s margin
This secret place where marsh hides
Her collection of naked forest trees
Logs that lay still and rot among reeds
Ducks float close by on top of the rippled sky
While the tide changes direction - but not her heart
Humming an irresistable song to delight the moon's pull
][
Mallard, pintail, widgeon
All together single-file
A winter parade
Silent and motionless
Float upstream with meaning
Along the spiky edge of rushes
That defines the river’s margin
I have always loved these birds
That stay here for the winter
They just arrived yesterday
And somehow I am happy
To see them again

Winter Rain

Sometimes rain shrinks us
Its impersonal manner
Draws cold shoulders up
And pulls a wet head down
As sore knees stiffen
And numb feet follow
A dog that doesn’t mind
My sight falls on pebbles

Sometimes we notice
We are the only ones out
And the rain invites me
And my body to play
My shoulders warm as they drop
My head feels at home when it’s wet
And the dog follows me
While I feel the rain fall

Winter Light

Brilliant bright light
in blades that stab
between leafless branches
on boulevard trees
stealing sight from my eyes
whenever it finds them.
I try to keep my eyes open
behind this windshield
despite the burning light
but I need to fill in the blanks
with a memory of this place
carried from past shadows.

Forest Floor

What a wonder it is to walk
Along a path that leads us
So easily through this wet fall forest
All the leaves have fallen
A brown and yellow carpet
Hides the gravel trail
From our searching seeking eyes
But not at all from 3 dog noses
The forest feels quiet now
Nearly all the leaves are down
Their summer songs drowned and still
But never forgotten it seems
I think of salmon today
Like the leaves they lay down their bodies
To nourish the land through winter’s sleep
And emerge anew next spring

Love

I watched three deer move across the land behind the house. They were grazing on blades of grass that had emerged through the moss that covered the rock face. The deer seemed busy but peaceful and they remained for thirty minutes or so unafraid of me and unafraid of the dog I was with - Chester.

Let me be
A blade of grass
On the hill
Above my home
Where the deer
Wander through
Grazing
I would happily
Offer myself to them
And so move freely
In their body
As their body
Across this land
That is loved

Wholehearted

Wholehearted is a flame
that carries us to places
we never could imagine.
Places that belong to themselves
yet welcome
new conversations
between a deeper part
of the universe
and a deeper part
of ourselves.
A part that was born
through past footsteps.
From the earth that stuck to our feet
and the sky that tousled our hair.

Morning Puddle

This morning at the Maritime museum before the sun came up I stepped out of my car into a pretty large puddle. I watched Chester drinking from the puddle when I let him out of the car. I noticed from where I stood that he was drinking up the reflection of a fairly expensive penthouse in the west end of Vancouver... and then three groups of three geese flew overhead as the morning began to emerge.

Shallow in a fall puddle
After the rain has fallen
Before the water soaks in
The sun’s back turned
Floods early morning
With darkness from deep water
Inviting me to watch
The joy of a sun’s welcome
Smiling rose reflected back
From an instant beyond my horizon
As city lights still shimmered
Paper thin on top of ponded rain
Three flights of geese
Return me to the morning world

Visitor

I am a visitor
I was welcomed here so warmly
When the door was first opened to me
This is the air we breathe
This is the water and food we take
It is fuel to help our body run
You have a mind and a body
To serve you in this practical place
All other things you have brought with you
And it is up to you to find out how you carried them
Love is a lost king in this place
Pain is a signpost of learning
Sadness is proof of our need to be here
While Joy is a hat the true captain wears
And empty loss belongs to our mind
When we rely on it to find our way
So much time has passed
That I walk here now
As if there were no other place
And yet I strive harder than ever
To remember just how
I was first greeted here
And where I travelled from
So that I can greet a morning in the same way
All I really know
Is that it rained beautifully
Long before I got here
And it will rain beautifully
Long after I leave

Autumn Colors

Yesterday was cold and wet
Stripping off early turning leaves
Leaving the new tweed of today’s fall
Standing bright on black branches
Measured in time
Yet finding it for the first time
Leaves celebrate life in each last moment
Through the music, the color and the dance
Emerging now in each leaf
To far out-shine their trees
Funny how the leaves
Were never noticed
In their summer work
When they were really needed
But now - free from work
And on their way back to earth
They shine with their own beauty
And sing with their own joy
Through each last day of fall

Autumn Rain

Rain carried by cool wind
Soaks right through
Reminding me winter is serious
Now, autumn calls us again
And in case we are not listening
Sends exhausting discomfort
Through a day you just can’t dress for
A shiver that leaves you empty
Cold and wet on the inside
Huddled and stiff on the outside
With no promise of any chance to ever return
Into the plenty of summer’s warmth
Or the fullness of a dry fall’s belly

Black crows flap wildly
And pull slowly over the top of red leaves
Loosening their grip
In the numbing cold and wet
That folds over the lower branches
Of young summer grown trees
Everything moves with exaggeration
Wet, uneven wind reminds me
That everything is changing
And I am uncomfortable to feel
Uncontrolled power inside this change

Fall colors flip awkward
This way and then that
Across wet ground
Against the crows flight
Tree shadows carelessly painted in colored leaves
Lie askew but even and flat beside their trees
Torn off and tossed by a damp gusty wind
That has done its very best
To draw a tree’s shadow using leaves
Just as the sun would have done
With its light
When fall was only a dream

I notice below the wind
Salmon quiet in their stream
Silent on their journey
Moving calm but steady upstream
Through the inevitable joy
Of fulfilling a destiny
That must have been imagined
As I stand here warmed
In colored autumn rain
No certain destiny in mind

Compassion

Look into the whale’s eye
Feel its rubbery body
Ripple in the cold water
See behind the dog’s eye
Or the pigs warm breath
And find its soul
Sometimes grown beyond your own
Greet it with love
Let its wisdom nourish you
Never let it frighten you
Or the shadows in your mind
May try to harm it
Broken by darkness

Dewdrops

So real those tiny neon sparks
Changing as I move my head
Red, yellow, blue then green
Dewdrops strung on a spider strand
Under the sun’s autumn smile
They stand out more for me
Than polished diamonds
That glint forever
These precious dewdrops
That evaporate back
Into the simple miracle
Of everything

Thanksgiving Cricket

I passed one cricket by the lake
Just one cricket calling out from the stillness
It seemed like the cricket was left to watch the lake
I noticed the sound of the cricket right away
And was drawn to it as everything else was still

All the other crickets had left
Or were silent and hidden
It was as if the cricket was left to watch the lake
And all life but the cricket had left the world
I wondered if the cricket knew the fear of feeling alone

It seemed to me that if the cricket
Could only know the miracle of its own existence
Then it would find the quiet lake again instantly
Just as I had found them both while walking by
Un-alone and un-afraid looking for neither

Morning River

Dimpled autumn steel
Cold as bright truth
In morning sun
Birds swim and catch fish
Just off the shore
On this proud river
Cormorants and grebes
Ducks and geese
All seem to enjoy
A last summer day
That leaves sand bars
Too bright to look at
While the sun sits
Low and bright
In the frozen sky
Behind clam siphons
And boxes and logs
That are ½ washed into
Wet and muddy river bars
Glistening bright
Along the river’s margin
In the morning sun

Remember

Love and Faith and Hope
Can surface
If we let go of the
Sun, the moon and the rain
And feel the things we brought
That seed each moment with life
And bless every infinite now
With knowing
The beauty of our real greeting
To the sun, the moon and the rain

Autumn Spider

Spinning a song
That you mastered
In the garden
Last summer
Resting with your dreams
At its center
Gathering your courage
For a first step
Above the bottomless future
Your belief will carry you
To the other side
As it always has before

Change

Darkness lies down
Hiding the season
Cool moist breath
From the other side
Breathed
By an ocean of truth
Quiet, powerful waves
That push us and draw us
Toward tomorrow’s sun
Already tumbling
Into a new season
Of light

Autumn Melody

Now I know I am mortal
I often heard their voices
But now I know their words
Fall is all around me
Bright with its drama
At first I felt sadness
When the leaves changed color
And began to fall
Then a tear dropped
Under a wing of geese
That passed overhead
But in that still moment
I could see all the way through
The full depth of my love
For this place
That has always loved me
The leaves will return
The geese are blown elsewhere
So still in this moment
I hold more love
Than I ever knew before

Raindrops are Miracles

I can find my love inside a raindrop
Not right away usually
But after all the indignant voices
That my mind carries clear away
And I am left to think of water
Then right away I can see it
A simple and deep miracle
Now the rain comes when it is needed
In truth, it always came
When it heard its name
It simply never understood
Our wailing and our wishing
It just showed up when it was called
Whatever the reason and without judgment
But a miracle lives inside every raindrop
And if we miss them all we may end up
Cursing the water as it rises above our ankles
And miss the miracles that seek us out from above

Hawk

Sometimes, the hawk forgets it is flying
Sometimes, it looses sight of the miracle
That lays still and unmoving all around it
But every now and then its wings
Entangle seamlessly with the beauty
Of this whole living place
Freeing us all to watch the hawk
Soar into its endless dream of change
Pursued and pursuing
Avoiding and seeking
Fullness and emptiness
Love is a breeze that can carry it higher
Than wings ever will

Beau Chien Blanc

The dog brought back a forest I never knew
I never smelled it till she ran-off
And then brought it back for us
In the moment she arrived the forest changed
Gone was the sun and soft evening light
Lost were the delicate cedar fronds
My senses were fully given to the dog
I searched her eyes to understand
The prize she found in this smell
That she had gleefully rolled out
Then proudly cloaked herself with
Our understandings of this gift
Drifted so very far apart
Gone was the forest I brought in my dreams
Arrived was that which I never expected
Now my mind bathes dogs
As I stand beside my own awareness
And the birds fly noisy above

Tree Branch

I stood
In a forest
On a quiet day
Nothing moved
                                      Leaves and needles could easily speak
Above the
Stillness
Of silence
Then I heard a large branch fall                                                
Far away maybe
I couldn't tell
Nothing moved
It frightened me
It cautioned me
Hold your dreams
It reminded me
I am vulnerable
As every moment
Unveils its secret

Summer Road

I drove a road I did not know
A summer road through the forest
On a hot day with a good car
And a deep companion
The road was two bare tracks
With grass from edge to edge
The trees were tall and mature
The forest seemed to respect the road
And let it rest smooth and even
Over its steep belly above an ocean

After an hour we reached
A narrowing
A place where alder
Found a footing near the road
Crimping it too tight with their branches
For the car to pass
Stepping out with the dogs
We walked through the narrowing
It wasn’t that far but we were simplified
On the other side
The car was left behind
We walked on through the silent forest
Slowly starting to hear its voice
Under the hot day but within
The cool shadowed arms of its trees
It was pleasant and cool and gentle

The road widened again in the wild forest
It seemed to celebrate our visit
A single dried bear scat
Full with salmon berry seeds
Told its own story of this place
The bear had walked on
After salmon berries were gone
Leaving this place to us
We turned back when our legs got tired
Accepting that this unknown place
Was our journey and our destination
Was simply gratitude

Knowing

I took you to the river
In my thoughts today
It was so quiet standing there
Listening inside and outside
Needing nothing

I remembered you heard
The leaves breathe once
So I looked at them
Round and silent beads
From last nights rain
Perfect little spheres
All different sizes and colors
Resting scattered crumbs
On the bright young faces
Of wild roses and their leaves

The roses were beautiful
But I couldn’t hear them breathe
A gentle knowing spun me
And drew my eyes far away
To a place on the river
Clean on its current
Where I watched the salmon crest
Breaking the water
Without surprise
Just where my eyes waited

A gentle whisper smiled
We are all known
In our own way
To different parts
Of this world

Silent Sky

I am in joy with your silence
These are not small mountains to move
Yet they will move on their own
Even if we don't watch them
They will pretend we can will them
Just be happy as every bird
in the sky has its own space
and Mountains will go
Where they go

Seasons

Seasons flow from the ground
Drawn from the earth by the sun
To whisper at flowers and fallen leaves
To sing with love in the wind
A soft but urgent knowing
Like an ant’s spent wings
Left behind
At the first light touch of a branch
Or the first heard whisper
Of a new season
As a flower unfolds
Or a leaf lets go
That moment of eternity
Drops its wings forever

Vine Maple

Kevin Schafer/Photodisc/Getty Images

You found me in your forest
Near the foot of a full grown fir
I noticed your flock of leaves
Delicate and perfect and proud
Each choosing its own green
Shimmering silently
In the filtered light of the forest
Tremouring truthfully
In the delicate breeze of my breath

I am called to notice you again
Your leaves so bright in this light
Attached to the dark woody thread
Of your forest stems
Lifting them above the rich littered earth
And offering them to the highest of heavens

Seven lobes on each perfect leaf
Health, happiness, generations, generosity
Humbleness, forgiveness and understanding
Steps that were walked by ancestors
Thousands of years ago
And just as the salmon return
To greet this land and to find their purpose
These leaves returned
To lift their stems heavenward

Movement

I looked up at the sky
I don’t know why
Close to the middle was a triangle
A gull, a plane and the moon
They seemed still in that instant
But my eyes lingered
And the triangle changed shape
All three were moving
Different heights
Different speeds
Different directions
Each with a destination
Each with a presence
Connected not dependent
Then I looked at my own feet
I was moving too
Then I realized that the earth
Was on its own mission of movement
Spinning and speeding and wobbling
I became dizzy just thinking about it
And I probably never even penetrated
the surface of change
That is our close companion here
So what is it really that seems still

The Crow

It is one short block
From the hot dry dust
In the corners of my garden
To the cool and windy
Presence of the sea

In yesterday's summer wind
Everything was moving
Everything was growing
The sounds of the world
Hid the stream I usually hear
From the rock I often sit on

Across from me a tree
On the far point
Small in size
But so fully
Of this place
Happy in this wind
Above its breaking waves
Alone on its rocky ocean point
The tree seemed still on the outside
But so alive on the inside
With ocean music
Never lonely
In its love

The stream
I listened for
Seemed silent
So I looked around
To see a crow standing on the ground
Just ahead of me and in gentle conversation
With a child that came to this beach
With her family
Their purpose of a picnic lost
With the sandwiches all gone

There plays my reason
For being here
A crow and a little girl
Both reaching beyond the sun's light
Past the tree's rough bark
And me knowing life's seed
Was planted in their sharing

Waking

Lying there
Listening to the body
Try to explain
The dashed dreams
Of a soul
Silenced by years
Of solitary patience
Deafened by thousands
Of tread upon shells

Draw back the curtain
Let the metal rings clink
Let the wooden rings clack
Let the fabric swish
And stand aside for the sun
To shine through
Let its light touch reach
Through your broken body
And heal your heart
Then mend your body
Together with your soul

Lift the veil
Of false perception
Hear what is there
See what is there
And dance with it
Forget the menu
And sit down to the feast

Flowers

Flowers in the garden
Orange
Pink
Lavender
blue
Yellows of all hues
Violet
More blue
And red
Inviting but not soliciting
Life
To be lived

Dragonfly
Dark and thin
Neon blue at its tip
(Who asked why)
Lights
On the rail
In front of my eyes
My place set
In the middle
Of a miracle

Hummingbird
Named for its sound
Two feet away
Straw in a pink flower
Hovers
With rufus colors
Aglow in the sun
Ever changing
Buzzing wings electric hum
Piercing me

Relaxing is impossible
In front of this creature
Whose body burns
So much faster
Than mine

Wonder
Puts this fire out
Then
Starts another blaze

A Stream

A stream flows where there wasn't one before
Cool water where long grass wept with thirst
A path for the salmon to follow
A place for the frogs to call
A stream that flows from the heart
Leaves a footprint pressed in sand
While seeds from the land
Lodged in my sweater
Softly hum the music
Of this place

Magic Moment

At the end of a day
The sun’s light
Warm and soft
But bright
Brings a new clarity
To everything it touches
Just as the end
Of our own days
May reveal a truth
That stood unnoticed
In every earlier moment
Of our lives

The Sun

Even if we can’t look at it
We still mold its image in our minds
Shifting, changing it to suit our stance
Fashioning it as we need it to be
Because it comes every day
We can fail its truth and say
I know what is there
I know what will come
I serve it well enough
Even if we really don’t know it at all
Even if we don’t respect it enough
But because it is there every day
We will have just enough to live by
Until we know
Everything is connected
And the sun’s arrival
Is purely a miracle

Lost

I have never been lost forever
But I have felt I’d never be found
It almost seems I’ve been more lost
In the middle of a wandering
Than at a start or near its end
My mind is lost right now
I can’t remember the beginning
I can’t see an end
And I sure hope this isn’t the middle
It is just seems too far from anywhere
To be anything other than lost
I guess that is because I have always felt
That I was going somewhere
Instead of just being someplace
In the middle of what is at that moment
Where we are allowed to be real
Where we need to be real
To be found

Stillness

Still in that moment
On a path under unchecked trees
The forest view breaks
Over a clear view of the ocean
Raised land across the straight
Unchanged in my memory
Since I woke a child
Unchanged in my memory
Since I wept a man
Unchanged before me
As I see beyond it
To God’s own shoulder
This ever-present gift
Three times given
A blessing to the soul
As the wind breathes me

Tree

I cut a tree from the front garden
It was well grown and fully branched
Entwined within a taller and older neighbour
Standing too close with all of its own branches in place
And affecting none from the other’s embrace
Only 15 years old but 30 feet tall now
And together they blocked the sun

From a near distance you couldn't tell it was there
From a near distance you can’t tell it is missing
I have asked others and they don’t seem to notice
Any change to trees around the garden
But the ground below the trees has opened up
Letting dappled light fall onto rich soil
Encouraging older plants to thrive in new ways
Inviting new plants to set roots in the garden
Where dark shadows of thought
Could never welcome them before

The downed tree stands
Only as a memory now
And has made way for new life
In the garden where it stood
And the wood from the tree
Chopped and split and stacked
Offers us warmth for next winter

Outside

It might look
from the outside
that I feel sorry
for myself.
But on the inside
a child is frightened
more than spoiled.
Ashamed to have lost
the sun of the seasons
standing naked and cold.
Alone
in a rain that follows
everyone else’s leaving.
Afraid to step into danger
Afraid to not step into joy
Stuck in the headlights
of someone else’s future.
Knowing that
I have chosen an awkward
lifetime not to be a tree
where, from the outside
I might look just fine.

Ocean Music

Sitting by the ocean
Watching birds fly by
This place
That has never
Known loneliness
But in that instant
I grasped for it
A tide-washed memory
Of sitting here with another
A lonely song
Long since ended
But still playing faintly
In my frightened mind

Then drawn back
to the present music
That is playing
All around me
Soft and subtle
Unending
Waves at the beach
Carry the wind’s heartbeat
In their rhythm
While a nearby
Stream flows
Inside its own melody
And birds will never surprise
The music with their calls
While otters play

The music of this place
Never stops
Always changing
And offers no perch
For loneliness
To light

Family

Family
Is the ocean
That washes against
Our edges
It defines us
As an island
Or a peninsula
Or a mainland
But it is always
Changing with us
Eroding steep shorelines
Building soft beaches
Redistributing
Our presence
Our absence
And floating
Clouds of wonder
Across our horizon
Making us look
Beyond our own edge
While we
Seek the mountain
That shows us north
One certain place
That we are not

How Deep is the River

How deep does the river flow
With cool and precious water
Its origin and destination
Both beyond view
Lost behind forgotten bends
Hidden within our dreams
Origin and destination
Both unimportant
Compared with where I stand
Deep in a rich ravine
Where water
In the river
Is always
Flowing

Now
I stand
At a place
Where water gathers
Below the sluggish pond
To become the river again
Flowing with certainty
And unfolding
Into its
Own
Future

Welcome Home

Welcome home
How nourishing are these words for you now
How far have you wandered
Did your body carry you through a land of longing
Beyond an endless month of hunger
Did you pass through the archway of your own needing
Only to loose that need forever
Has your own love become your favorite shirt
And do you wear it every day
While walking steady toward a setting sun
Welcome home

Sitting

Sitting
High above the waves
I can hear them
And see them
But they make no sense
Here and there a sound
With no reason for it
I heard a splash
When I saw no wave
Then silence
When I expected sound
Was I that far up?
All the beings around me
Danced divinely
And kept their lives
But I lost mine in watching
And listening
Then found it again
In sitting on the hill
Where I was
Vulnerable
Exposed to a fatal event
From above

Reflection

Placid water
On a timeless lake
Inviting us
To find a way through
Our own breathless
Surface

Quiet reflection
Offers its own
Backward view
Of everything
Except the lake

Living beneath
A shallow mirage
Fitted so perfectly
floated so lightly
That its surface
Obscurs
Deeper beauty

The lightest touch
Can dissolve the dream
That hides the lake

Color
Its depth
The temperature
Its nourishing embrace
And all the life
Within it
Joyful

Changes

You need to notice
Everything is changing
Not just a little
But as much as it can imagine
Sometimes more than we can sense
Is drawn into change
And folded
Deep into nature
The sun then the shade
As a spring wind runs
From summer warm
To autumn cool
In one moment
Without a warning
Without apology
And no smile of satisfaction
But truth is there
As we and the world
Are both made new
Through change
An essence of life

Importance

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The sun rises
Every day

Knowing
Its importance
Helps us both
Find thanks

Today
I rose
Unafraid
With the sun

Into an
Infinite sky
Of awareness

Above the
Salted ocean
Of time
That I still
Swim in

Finding nothing
Yet Knowing
That everything
Is important

Sunshine

There were moments
Of wondering
If the sun offered
Enough warmth
To sustain me
Or enough light
To guide me
Anywhere

But not that deep
Inside my shadow
Where time
Is unknown
I believed
The sun
Is not my
Compass

The moon
Is not my heart
And the rain
Is not my thought
My body simply cares
Unafraid in any space
Where all these things
Are not

I invite
The golden sun
My silver moon
And all their rainbows
To dance through me
Sharing, merging
Into a deeper way
Of becoming

Morning Light

photograph by: unknown (Sproat Lake BC)

Last night in darkness
Clouds and their snow
Agreed to part

This morning's
Cold damp light
Found the snow

Tasting branches
Of mountain trees
Across the water

From where I stood
A new white gown
All the way down

I heard the mountain say
Snow has no tongue
And branches hold no taste

Now the snow waits
For sun to draw its warmth
Across the sky

Unlocked from frozen branches
Water rubs its belly on the ground
And its back against the gravel

Water in the stream
Passes bright fish
That move against its current

The stream’s truth
Brings water home
To the ocean at my feet

Where it rests
Joined to others
Sisters and brothers

Knowing now
Just how beautiful
Its journey really is