Come, sit and sip with me,
The tea will warm our hands, the wine our hearts.
Hold my hands across the table,
Watch and feel my eyes melt into yours.
Your heart hears mine but you pull
Your sweater tight and muffle its cries.
Let it out, it only wants to share
Don’t be afraid,
It won’t leave you for me and mine
Won’t leave me for you, but
They will meet when
Our chests touch and
Their harmonic beauty will speak to us of peace and love and
Lull us to sleep
Among the tea mugs
And wine glasses.
Notes of soul,
Words of flesh,
The sound of time is
Love expressed.
Chants whisper to me
As their cords of light infuse my spirit.
The names of God swirl in silent eddies
And drain through the fibers of my heart
Where traces of love are
Caught and linger.
The universal love holds no space or time
It is all and nothing.
Come my love, hold my hand and
Sing with me the names of God in love and watch
Watch and be amazed as the magic unfolds again.
Scarlet tree branches,
Moon light through naked limbs.
Night is silenced by the cold
And damp forest sleeps.
The songbirds have gone,
Their singing missed by the morning.
Crows caw to the shadowed sun as
Darkness increases its grip.
It is all winding down,
Life and love, slowly seeping into the ground.
The cold silences and subdues,
Its victory complete and all sleep.
The wind speaks to me in this dark time.
It’s howling through naked branches
Reminds me of the power, the life force that
Remains when the sun has pulled back its warmth.
The cold is too strong, to deep to penetrate
It is invasive and complete in its capture.
It holds down life,
Forces it underground to wait.
The cold is not evil, but is
A necessary part of the whole.
Without the cold time there would be no spring,
No return of the sun, no song birds to sing.
The cycles must run, the four corners call
And she who dwells in the heart must be heard.
All is right, all is good, all is as it must be
Should be, is and forever will be.
November
Winter is not a time of loss,
Not just a time of cold.
It is a pause,
A break in the cycle of growth and light.
A time to rest, step back, step in,
And reflect.
The dark time brings us back to hearth and home,
Back to our roots and each other.
We share this quiet time within ourselves,
Deeply formed thoughts reflected in firelight.
Winter is a time of shared isolation.
We are all closed in, alone with each other.
The trees are quiet, too. All
Sounds are muffled by the snow.
Burrows and dens surrounded by the white warmth
Shelter life until spring.
Crystal cold water runs beneath a
Covering of ice,
Sneaking away to the open sea,
Escaping the slowing by cold’s icy grip.
The cold penetrates all, it slides
Silently over the sills
And in through the cracks and settles
In pools around my feet.
Cold turns the air into crystals of ice,
That sparkle as diamonds in the sun.
But the sun holds little warmth in winter.
Her light for illumination only.
She has given the world over to the other side
A universe and life in balance, as it should be.
The light and warm time will come again, it always does
It is trustworthy.
So I am content to sit by the fire and marvel
At the wonder and beauty of winter.
I appreciate my place in the flow of the seasons
And my oneness with all creatures.
Join me, step back and observe, listen and be still
Hear the magic and grace that surrounds you.
Let the crystal blue sparkling sky fill your eyes and heart with the joy of the season
And be at peace in this time of waiting.
The undisputable evidence of the creator
Surrounds me.
She is in the heart of every rain drop,
She is the voice of the thunder.
Her soft strong hand holds the sun in the sky,
And the birds on the wing.
All life is a manifestation of
Her will and beauty.
To deny her is to deny
My very existence and the existence of all that I love.
Her voice echoes in the wind and her love
Caresses my face with moonshine and starlight.
Only she knows the time of the seasons,
As she knows the passions of my heart.
Life without the acceptance of her presence
Is possible – but empty.
My practice of Buddhism, without her foundation, without her to seek in the
Stillness of mind,
Would become empty and shallow, self serving,
An interesting preoccupation only.
I see her in every flower, every mountain top,
Every smile.
She exists in all of creation, every part and particle,
Every quark and lepton, every neutrino and vibrating string.
They all bear her thoughts and are ruled, created and
Imbibed with her universal consciousness.
A consciousness that she freely and openly shares with each and every one of us,
All we have to do is seek and she will answer.
She is an endless thought, an endless love, all encompassing, and all knowing.
She holds all the possibilities of eternity in her thoughts and ideals.
The creator has become the creation. She resides in me and you.
Reach for her in the darkness and feel her light and hope,
Open your eyes and be awake to her presence, your heart will echo her joy forever
And you will never be alone again.
She will never disappoint you,
She knew you before you were born.
From my bedroom window
I watch the woodland change with the seasons.
On the corner of the house, a maple branch hugs the windowsill
Its leaves framing my view of the forest.
How can I explain the secret life of leaves I observe from my window and the
Magical growth that takes place in silence unseen?
I can think of no words to use, so instead I just watch, I watch the breeze
ruffle the leaves and the branches move together in the wind like fans made of feathers.
And then the rain comes and I watch the drops play the
Leaves like keys on a piano.
I am content with my role as watcher and marvel at the strength and skill the trees employ when they interlock their arms to form an impenetrable force of gentle power in silence.
These graceful tree spirits are woven together by the hand of God to create
The framework of the forest.
They surround my home and speak to my soul and
My heart hears their thoughts and hopes,
And I realize and know that they are
Not so different from me.
I understand and accept that we share this planet and are
Children of the One in all our varied forms
All connected,
All equal in the eyes of our creator.
And the peace and stillness of the wood
pervades my soul and feeds my spirit and makes me one with those who stand outside looking in.
Uncommon fair time again
All natural and good
Wholesomeness is its hallmark
Break
I expect so little now
Is it still to much?
Let go, watch me fall apart
Break
The birds are very busy
They sense it is here
Frost on the field this morning
Break
The humming birds are now gone
No one saw them leave
They slipped away in the night
He taught me to sit in mystical darkness,
And watch the floating pin points of light in my soul.
They were at once familiar and strange, a one sighted following,
A place where songs were sung backwards.
The sitting itself was an empty solitude,
But only on the surface.
Although years have passed, the echoing sadness still seeps in.
Thankfully, time and focus have helped to remove its sting.
But even time cannot erase the unanswered questions that linger,
They are still shouting in my ear to be heard.
My continuing faith in Sri helps to remove my doubts while
His quiet presence replaces my pain.
He has made me realize there is no more time for seeping sadness,
Its time has finally passed and his death has lost its drowning sorrow.
Now my teacher’s essence speaks to me in thoughts not words, but his message is still the same.
He tells me to be open, still, and fearless.
He promises that if I take it all in and have faith, I will receive what I need.
I will be held and loved – sunlit wrinkles and all.
I will never lose the sound of his voice as it is written on my soul and
Held close to my heart.
Sri’s wisdom is as profound now as it was then as
He tells me once again that my love for the other is right and good.
It is a love that was meant to be. There is nothing greater,
Nothing less, nothing more to need.
My teacher asks me to reside within that love, and feel the power
And strength that comes from knowing that it is right and good.
Sri understands that my love for the other is whole and simple, kind and generous,
Is light and darkness together,
He can see into my heart and
Feel how this love fills me with warmth and joy.
His words encourage me to never to give up for as his love has shown me,
It is not always easy to love but to love for love’s sake is in and of itself its own reward.
He taught me that it takes strength to love unconditionally, and
To hold another’s heart in your hands and not be afraid takes courage and commitment.
Love is not for the faint of heart.
In morning’s stillness, the owl sings to me of days gone by.
Soft darkness surrounds my heart and brings me back in time.
Back to a small building, a small town,
36 years in the past to an empty waiting room and dimly lit corridors.
To a quiet hospital’s artificial twilight while the world sleeps on,
Unaware of the new life signaling its time to begin.
It was just us, waiting together, physically connected as one
But for only a few hours more.
Your birth was the beginning of our separate journeys but as
A physical separation only, we remained together in heart and mind.
In that early September morning mist, as a tiny girl, you took your place beside me,
And changed my life with your smile.
You left the temporary shelter of my body,
And joined the permanent shelter of my heart.
Your presence in this world begin on that beautiful morning but
Your soul was already here, waiting for you to come back.
Right from the beginning your wisdom and light shown through your tiny eyes.
Your smile contagious, your grace and love profound.
You are an eternal soul born to bring a spark of goodness and light back to this world,
Your simple presence making the world and my life a better place.
You are now a woman, holding the little hand of the next embodiment of profound sprit and wisdom.
Your light is strong in your daughter and so the cycle continues.
From mother to daughter, sister to sister,
Woman to woman.
Together we are strong, loving, grace filled and eternal and build on each other’s strengths.
The time has come for us to take our rightful place in this universe.
Our life-force will change the world and the heavens and bring them back into balance.
And as it was in the beginning, the hands that rock the cradle will hold the hearts of the world and all will be at peace once more.
The change has begun.
September 3, 2015
MC
This silence, a noble silence of
Candles and Buddha.
Three nights, three days
Hours of silence, hours of sitting.
Heaven in bowls of homemade soup and crusty breads.
Food to nourish our bodies as this place nourishes our souls.
The bells welcome morning and
Breakfast nourishes in silence.
A retreat from ordinary life,
No jobs to do, no one to take care of except ourselves.
A beautiful place surrounded by
Beautiful people, soul sisters and brothers.
We are like-minded, but are on our own journeys.
As Shawn so rightly said, “no one can do your path better than you”.
New friends with old ideas,
Each their own but each the same.
And so I sit, just sit and be
I try to keep my mind still.
Sometimes it is,
Sometimes not.
A sinking feeling, sinking into my soul
Into that space behind my eyes that truly sees
I see it in fleeting moments of bliss
Nothing to hold onto, nothing to catch.
Hours pass by in seconds, other times
Seconds are hours.
Bells signal the beginning and ending
Three to start, three to stop.
Sometimes the end comes too quickly,
Sometimes too slowly
A moment can last forever
Or disappear in a heartbeat.
It has left a lasting, life changing impression
Am I brave enough to take these steps?
Do I know which way to go? I think I do and
If I am honest with myself, I will.
I have to take this chance, nothing will change
Until I make the choice.
If I do, in six months I’ll be fine
If I don’t, in six months it will still be the same.
Seems so wrong to have to pay this price again,
So wrong to have already lost before I even started.
So I will sit, alone in my mind, alone in my heart
And ultimately alone in my soul.
I need to return to the place of Noble Silence
And let the stillness dry my tears and harden my heart.
It is the only way to survive,
The only way to be.
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