Friday, December 29, 2017

Turning Point



When everything is lost
we realize there is something
that cannot be lost.
Something we have never seen
or touched,
something we cannot name
but we can feel.

It leads us on.

A resilience comes from somewhere else
and we know we can make it —
because there is no other choice 
than to rebuild and start again.
But it is not from scratch.
Our depths have been challenged
and we will never be the same.

And when a community 
shares this experience
there is no telling
where it will lead.

Days



I live inside the day.
This boundary that separates
one time from another
one sequence from the next.
A framework
giving form to the formless.
One day
piled on top of another
broken into minutes, hours, lives.
The breath of the sky
guiding me through dark,
light and dark again.

But it’s the fullness I’ll remember,
the breeze gushing into my lungs
the valleys, moon, stars
feelings that cannot be contained,
the vast worldly otherness
of spirit touching my bones.


Thursday, December 28, 2017

Love Waits on Welcome



Leave room for empty spaces —
the ones not filled in 
with every moment.
The pause between notes
where music dwells. 
The breath of air
free of its past.

Enjoy the bird’s song
without knowing what bird it is.
Smell the fragrance
without naming it.
Let the mind sit
unattached, uncontrolling.

Let lots be vacant
appointment books unfilled.
Leave room for the unexpected
and time to welcome love.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Embracing Eternity



Embracing eternity, 
I take the path 
into the unknown
with deep secrets
and vanishing horizons,
the feeling
of never arriving
because there is no place
where eternity lives.

It is a depth
that can never be reached
a longing
that is never filled
an entwining
that can never be close enough.

It is the endless journey
of life creating itself.

Into the Light



When the quiet fields of peace
seem elusive and so far away,
Take a moment 
to give some of your time to Spirit.

Let her carry it
around this aching world
and spread your gift far and wide.

When it is returned
you will feel your light,
once barely able to make a firefly glow,
now holding a brilliance 
large enough
to lead you out of darkness
out of this broken world.

Sometimes a thousand years are saved
by a simple act of love.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Inspiration



You came to me this morning
out of nowhere,
floating fully formed into my brain
as if from the generosity of the air.

Everything around me knew you had arrived.
You swirled me like a tornado
into a frenzy of creation.
Yes, inspiration, you have come
spontaneously and unpredictably
consuming me with your disruptive ways.
Leaving no stone unturned
or dish washed,

Yet always a welcomed visitor.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Love and Hope



The circle of time
is never broken—
unveiling the path
from birth to death
and back again.
Spirits rise from old flames.

Life carries on.

Death is not a closed door
but an opening
into a new horizon.
It leaves the body empty
save for the memories
we bestow upon it.

Yet life goes on

through its wretchedness and despair
pushing its way forth
into untold beauty.
We will come out of this.
When and how is not known,
but spring does follow winter
and we can join again
fuller for the lifting of the veil
and richer for life's embrace.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Caught in Time



It is not her story
but history.

Numbers on her arm—
a tattoo she never chose.
Always the reminder
of life taken from her.
Mother, father, brother gone.
No home to return to.
Only the promise
she made to herself
that someday
she would have
a family of her own to love.

That was her answer.
It was the only thing she knew
that could not be taken from her:
the desire to love.

And as she passed away
with her children, grandchildren,
great grandchildren by her side
she knew she had won,
and she thanked God
for the living
who carry forth the message
to never forget.