Summer Rain

Big drops of heavy rain
Make the rain fall hard
Make the rain fall loud
Softly mask my vision
Dimples the wet road
Between small rivers
Racing along gutters
Dividing around tires
That rest like rounded
Boulders in fast flowing
And rapidly rising rivers
But every now and then
Wet cars with windshield
Wipers slapping and tires
Running bravely on noise
Pass by my glass window

Colors

The puffy, pulled-apart clouds seem
Wispy-white between lots of cyan
And are far beyond the cottonwood seed
That flies well over my head
In a strong warm summer breeze
That blows beneath a forceful sun
The wind offers soft blue edges
To cool dark shadows of trees
That lie flat on green ground
Where I throw a yellow ball
For a happy brown dog to chase

Daytime Moon

The moon looks to be a circle
During the daytime when it is there
It looks white and thin and flat
And separated from everything
Suspended at safe distance
Quarantined for its life
But it is the moon
And it may not even know loneliness
In its never ending
Always changing sky
As long as I know it is there
Then no distance separates us
All forms and senses rest aside
In moments of untethered love
All distance dissolves between us
And is flooded with being and filled
With a subtle comforting hum
That touches everything

The Moment

When the moment comes
The wind will blow from the east
Bringing dark clouds to follow grey
And cold rain or lightening and thunder
Or the sun can give its place to the moon
So the dark drifts down below its night
Until enchanted stars awaken, bright
Then you found a larger change
That never repeats itself

We often fail to notice change
Among all things we'll never tame
So they easily often wander
In and out-of blank refrain
As if we simply owned them
Or held their changing leash
So we could make a weather suit
Holding breaths or eating peach

It is the quieter turns of change
Like birth and love and death
That touch us unexpectedly
And only here or there
These seem so very personal
And by far too-extra large
To simply only happen when
Their waking moment stirs

Never

Never
Is a place
We can’t know
And we can’t go
But it still exists
For it holds power
To draw our attention
From where we stand
And toss it elsewhere
Beyond all horizons
Into the dreams of our dream
Where we will never
Find our own feet

Robin’s eggs

Robin’s eggs are blue
That might just invite
The young to fly
Toward the sky
And not the ground
Where they might drown
Is there a reason I can cite?
Why robin eggs are blue

Forest Scent

The forest smells sweet today
Moisture from recent rainfall
Knows every birthplace in the land
And found the places it needs to be
Soft in dark soil under trees
Fresh in ponds for the beaver
And all that’s leftover - glitters
From a fabric of forest leaves

The sweet smell of new life
Bubbles within the forest
Charging places here and there
With heat and light and moisture
Igniting spring’s excitement - seeding
Life out of silence all around me
To rest beneath a quilted canopy
Sewn by songs into beautiful birds

Life is Ancient

Life is ancient and the world too real
To revolve around what we imagine
I watch the truth turn the world
As it draws all life through change
Dancing, glimmering, spinning
With each note of discovery
Through every breath and beyond
The comfort we remember

Interior Nature

My nature inside
Landscaped in darkness
Stands holding hands
With a world outside
Streams with themes
Lead to oceans of grace
Carrying both worlds
Into eternal change

Nature always knows me
Her streams and oceans
So easily find me here
Anytime I notice them
Anytime I need them
They help me know
I am loved and blessed
And rest pure and simple
Like a solid red stone
On a beach of thousands

Whale

I watched its back rise through the surface

It had to be a whale. It must have been a whale.

I watched my mind search to preserve itself

I asked it to rest quiet and leave that job to me

It was a whale – at least it breathed air, lived in the sea

And crested right in front of me – where I loved us all

It moved water with its body and blew air from its blowhole

For me and others to use in any way we needed to

Native Bee

The sun and the moon
The day and the night
Black hair like a fur
Darker than midnight
Over shadowed moon
Two stolen strips
Thin but yellow
From a dandelion
In daytime sun
Doing exactly
What it always
Knew to do
Harvest pollen
From flowers
It already knows
Showering life
Into flower’s fire
For children to find

Birdsong

Birdsongs offer warmth to sun
They lighten food for flight
And please a place in me
Just as red fingers
Of reawakened maples
Play forever with noon day sun
Their flat fingers, dark red on top
And soft red light below
Must please bees
That fly by to stay alive
Survival in their body of bliss
A great distraction
That sits forever, undigested
In the well muscled crop
Of eternity

Dandelions and Daises

Dandelions and Daises
Stand free in spring grass
Their frothy colors tidal
Except today in cold rain
They wither tight and close
If I hadn’t seen them yesterday
I wouldn’t even notice them now
Mistakes dropped on the ground
Waiting for the mower
To tidy up the lawn

I never knew how important
The sun’s warm guidance was
For these pretty plants
That live welcomed now
In grassy park fields
Alongside the river
Weeds that are pardoned
Enemies of their grassy world
But state through the brightness
Of their white and yellows
The bold and clear confidence
Of their beauty

Tomorrow when the sun
Finds a warm and cloudless
Place in the sky
These flowers will remember me
With a thousand reflected suns
Standing in their field

Trees

Leaves and branches and roots
Plus all the other things we see
And hear or taste or smell or touch
All keep their secrets dark from me
I have never found a finished box

Leaves don’t last – you know
But they practice letting go
Then circle back to life somehow
After helping partnered branches see
The next good place they need to be

With help from leaves and roots
A branch can penetrate the world
It knows the ancient rules for trees
Those rules that keep us out
Still invite a simple gaze of ease

I wonder where their magic lives
I have seen it sparkle bright in sap
A juice that smiles to roots and leaves
Sun's warm breeze and summer hats

But roots that hold below the land
Can harbour lots of things
Some seem to last forever
Others renew each spring

I think we shouldn’t split it up
This tree is just a tree
Beneath its leaves and branches
Live things we’ll never see

Morning Deer

Morning deer visited my hillside
Silent supervisors needing to check
Yesterday’s vision - this morning’s result
We were held last night by a land
That dreamed us both
Them with Me, together
They move through every day
I first sensed the land yesterday

Although, I made no change
To the landscape
As a gift with deer in mind
I am always aware
We work together - the deer and me
I plant once - they prune every day
Just as something born in me
Is tended and changed, every day

Let the beauty of this place
Live in every welcome space
Let each plant and every creature
Express itself with comfort
And know the joy of its home
As I long to feel its beauty
Settle into my bones
And become my vision

The deer never noticed me
As I gazed before my morning plan
She moved unhurried up the hill
Then sank seamless into the forest
The white patch behind her
Slipping through stillness
Where silent leaves and branches
Keep all the places I love

Spring Rain

Water often finds its lake
Under a raindrop dimpled surface
Its texture evenly spread
Under a light colorless sky

Drips from alder leaves
Bubble under branches
And sail within the breeze
Past the safety of their trees

Broken by raindrops
Weightless and transparent
All the drops and bubbles
Join the lake untraced

Cool, wet, fresh rain falls
That never laid flying dust down
or ever deepened a faded color
Rain that never played with light

Drips and drops that feed the lake
First strive to float the birds
Then stand firm to help the fish
And patiently wait to nourish the land

The red maple unfolding
Beside the heavy lake
Rests bent but happy
Inside the falling rain

The storm only missed the sun
But it left a string of magic
As a gift on every level branch
Delicate, unique and perfect

Each drop vibrating in play
With any light that finds it
My senses know each drop
Is precious as a pearl

A raindrop's beauty can't be kept
So these gems will never sparkle
Around a soft and gentle neck
Spring rain on maple in the morning sun

A Gentle Breeze

How
Can
The wind
Send
Love or Healing
Through a raindrop
To its lake
Or a teardrop
To its heart
When it
Only seems to touch
The surface

Byssus

I am fully, deeply, entirely
Unknown to you now
Even you must know
The threads that stretched
Between us
Are broken and hang loose
Too short to be reconnected
Too meaningless to be useful
They will fall away now
Finding their place among
Seabed creatures and those
Too deep to see or feel
The light from above
Filtered, attenuated
By the density of this world
How we float without the strands
Love is not a line but a color
And the air we have found
Is real

Being Human

Being human
For a long time
Can forge strong bonds
To an image of self

One piece taken
From the whole pie
Is separate but still at one with nature
And is always at one with a higher truth

Taught by others
To find a flaw
In God’s nature
The one we carried
Like a stone cold cherry pit
Inside our own secret wedge of the pie
Hidden by a single shade of learned life

Let go of your secret
Cast off your learning
Embrace the evening’s truth
Our universe lives fully in every single piece
As perfect and as whole as we need it to be
Ten thousand colors wait
To mend us whole

Morning Geese

Distant geese clamor
Chasing calls across the sky
Following the truth
That rattled through them
Excitement in their call
Draws me from a sleep
Fresh from my dream
Into their dream
Waking up to spring

Sunshine

Sunshine dries the rain we make
To darken rocks we walk around
And nourish parched friendships
Rain's silence brings out the brightness
And detail in each new moment
Full emotions color this or that
As sunshine soars high above pain
And with Love finds free entry
Through time’s window or cold rain
To still our special body hearts
With warm gladness never remembered
But found and spent completely
In the freshness of each moment

Late Winter Weather

Winter breathed a breath today
Insisting on its cold wet way
But flowers already found the trees
That waited for them all winter long

Winter just opened an eye a bit
And stirred from sleep
The world feeling guilty
Or maybe a just a little frightened
Hid itself behind a cold wet drape
In spite of spring flowers
That have already broken through ground
And split bark on bare branches of trees

Please wish that winter falls
Back into the sleep it roused from
Or folds its stern temper neatly
And leaves the bright table
That’s set for the party
We all wait for

We walked in winter’s shadow
For so long - we need it to leave
But winter only knows its own darkness
It can’t feel a shadow
So spring, summer and fall
Are only paintings on the wall
They cast no shadow for winter to see

May winter drift softly back to sleep
Snoring quietly forgotten sounds
Until we miss crisp darkness
After twilight fades warm seasons

I just looked outside and it is snowing
It is not sticking but snow is certain
Among the rain drops
It is late in the year for that
And spring's decorations now lay ruined

Blueberries

Late summer
Blueberries
Lie on the ground
Staring up blankly
At branches
And crowns

Flowers
That leaped
At them
Early in spring
Have all passed
Them by
Without
Saying a thing

Far up above
Tall and unblinking
The flowers
Find love
With the breeze
And its inklings

There is only
The pheasants
Those left
In the field
That are willing
To harvest
A Blueberry
Meal

- So up they go -

Over the soil
And under the sky
Far beyond fences
 And bushels of rye
where they'll make
Their own homes
And they'll live
Or they'll die

Dreams

Dreams are clouds on quiet water
Changing shape and size
Drifting through sleepless minds
Floating weightless - upside-down
Along an important edge of the river
Obscuring all that lives
Below their dark softness
Obscuring all that lives
Above their white hardness
The river doesn’t understand dreams
And flows unaware of the weightless captain
That rides its back and holds our ear
On every day that the sun comes out
And the wind brings its clouds
Over an endless horizon

Spring Flowers

Spring warms words
That rise like daffodils
Out of soil
And stand
Above ground
Rooted firm in feeling

Words that bring color
To winter landscapes
Lost in blue
While warm sun stirs soil
Near feelings
Dormant but seeded
Shallow within us

Spring’s bright colors
Drawn from the earth
Celebrate life’s animal
The one we try
To deny

Still, life finds its way
Easily - like water
Beyond the banks of a river
To drink deeply
And feed the bright flame
That lives
Down below darkness
Deep in our body

Wood Duck

A brightly colored wood duck
Carries perfect colors upstream
Self-conscious and all alone
Forgetting that moment of longing
Of wishing to be noticed
Of needing to be heard
Swims now exposed
To hunters and mates and life
Wearing his fragile cloak
Over the rich warmth
Of a slender but growing soul

The Earth

The earth is all we have
As long as we are here
Until we see through
The blackness of the night
Until we know the sounds
Of truth and speculation
Until the mystery falls away
And the spirit flees to home
Where the warmth and light
That we let go of so long ago
Waits forever for us
We longed for that place
Until we forgot
It was missing
Even though I know
It’s been there all the time
In the ground, all around

Quiet Band of Cloud

A gentle rhythm played by ocean waves
Swashes up from rocks below
A hypnotic whisper of waves wishing
To be hushed in the arms of their creator

Far across the water in the distance
A single band of cloud rests below its sky
And floats above its sea
Needing to be seen, wishing to be warmed

The cloud giving itself fully to the morning sun
Is slowly lost into its own fragile gift
And feels the death of its own white presence
Dissolve into an horizon of knowing

Waves still carry their soft random rhythm
Up the beach and stir broken shells by my feet
And then slide down to the ocean
To be hushed back to sleep in its arms

The little stream behind me
Hurries singsong melodies
From voices of last night’s tree frogs
Dissolved into its waters
Rushing them bright and fast past me to the sea

Privilege

A sense of privilege
Lives within me
It dresses
Under my ego

Its royal blue fabric is marked
By a bright discordant thread
Of anxiety stitched tightly
Throughout its measure

Anxiety evaporates immediately
When the thread is pulled
Through the heart of creation
Letting privilege stand alone

Tsunami

                                                                                                       Google Image
A wave in the darkness
From far across the sea
Left me standing dry on sand
We all know the tide is there
We know the wave will come
But we don’t know when
And we don’t know where
So many sit on the beach
  Watching for the mystery
That we all breathe
In with every breath
I wonder how much
Energy it takes
To deafen ourselves
Against the wind
Of its truth
 
Embrace
Every crimson sunset
Sleep well in every night
You are loved
And that is enough
To float you softly
Upon any wave
That may ever come
To find you

Herring Gull

                                                                                                       Google images
They aren’t just called
Herring Gulls
For no reason at all
They are called
Herring Gulls
Because they eat Herring

And they don’t just
Quietly eat herring
They hover noisily
And excitedly
In a flock
Over a ball of herring
That rolls and boils into the
Disappearing center
Of itself

Herring
Unafraid and unaware
Of danger in the sky
Draws seabirds to switch
Into the rich diet
They were made for
Into the deadly game
They were named for
A simple Herring Gull
Can find Herring
Better than any boat
With new and fancy gear

Canada Geese

Two geese floating
Under warm winter sun
Between anxious waves
Their heads high
Above the light’s
Weightless sparkle
Their feet deep
In solid stable stillness
Beneath the waves

These geese
So beautifully marked
Bob up and down
They never seem to tilt or ground
Like sticks and branches
That stumble after the wind
In a silty chop on the river

The wind blows
Without excitement
Without urgency
It just is
Nothing asks why
It just is
And the world
Is not confused

When I walk back
The geese are gone
And my wondering
Fails to find them
Time is changing us all
Like waves that run
After the wind

The King

May you sit beside the king
And know the gentleness behind a gesture
That can flood the world with joy or pain
May you loose yourself between wings
That lift you far above love
Where there is only one place to be
And only one thing to do
None of it requiring thought
As only presence can reign

Waiting

There is no such thing
As waiting
It’s just another word for death
We can’t really wait any more
Than the tide can rest
Half way through
The moon’s daily journey
Across the heavens

Just as we are drawn
To each inevitable instant
By Silver Threads of longing
Attached to our heart
The ocean
Is drawn by the moon
Through its slow pattern
Of breathing

There is no such thing
As waiting
It steals our moments
And places us on a shelf
Alone
Outside of reality
Outside of useful life
Where all we can hear
Is the ticking
Of an empty clock
That never can be wound

Sometimes life moves fast
Sometimes life moves slow
But looking for our future
Always steals precious feelings
From the present
And leaves us vulnerable
To wandering in
Never-widening circles
That never find the new places
We dreamed of

There is no such thing
As waiting
So change your mind
And allow your being
To explore this miracle
That wants to dance with us
To our own music of heartbreak and joy
Through each moment
Toward something like a future
That wants to greet us
As we’re standing there

Peaceful Moment

Geese, mallards, widgeon
Floating quietly today
And all together
In gentle peace
Under winter sun
On a rounded river
Between cold nights

Everything moves
Through stillness
Slowly, softly, effortlessly
Behind fragile passageways
That exclude thought
But still invite us in
To rest by the fire

There is more than enough emptiness
To hold all of the silence
And all of the stillness
That the birds float in
That the fire burns from
That our beings are rooted in
Despite false walls
That can limit our views

Let my eyes be
Let my awareness live
On the tallest branches
Of what I have become
That I may reach beyond
The walls I watched being built
With hollow bricks of time
And touch the heart of others

Raindrops and Worlds

Raindrops on the window
Effortlessly turn and hold the world
Upside down – just for fun
Each raindrop plays with the same world
So I wonder how many there are
No really, how many are there?
Raindrops and worlds
Everything on this planet is limited
And infinite at the same time
Nothing is supposed to leave
Yet light is energy
It enters from the sun
And never seems to leave
What about our souls?
What about our spirits?
Other things we can’t see -
Do they leave? Do they stay?
Does it matter?

Your Embrace

A long time
I have waited
For adoption to take place
When all I really wanted
Was a smile and an embrace
To hold a settled mind
And know that everything is good
It is going to work out fine
Just the way it always should

I am happy
With the friends
You have
They love you
Very much
As I am happy
With the friends
I've found
Who help
Me find
My ground

I will welcome
All your friends
To you
Because
In knowing that
We can celebrate
Our time together
While our ticket
Numbers match


I don’t need
To be adopted
I just need
To be embraced
As we hold
Each precious
Moment with our
Heartbeats
As they race

Earlier Rain

Raindrops fell
On engineered surfaces
With gravity and chemistry
They joined together and flowed
Only where they were allowed
Leaving crooked black lines
Across dry shadows
Of departed cars
Searching for a curb
I can’t tell by looking
At the grass or the river or the trees
If it ever rained at all
So it seems
Rain can write its name
Across man made things
Apart from that
It only really exists
When you catch it
In its simple act of falling
From the belly of a black cloud
Or clearly drumming its name out
On whatever it finds

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