Midnight.
Sleep eludes.
It runs and hides from the Maelstrom of my Mind
Menacing.
Thoughts.
Images.
Emotions.
Rushing, Churning.
“When will it stop?!”
Awake and restless.
Like a Horizontal Square Dance,
“Toss to the left; Turn to the right.
Sit up straight; Awake all Night.”
“Please, Yahweh, Let Sleep, Blessed Sleep
fall upon me.”
Yet, here I am still.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Praying.
“Please, help.”
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The poet sings, “Where is the birthplace of the wind?
From what distant lands and shores does it arise?
And, wither does it go on its unceasing journey to World’s End?”
Such is the Unseen Universe.
We see not. Blind to the brightness of its light.
Yet, as the wind is felt and the reality of its life can be
Seen in the swirling dust; the trees genuflecting to their Unseen Benefactor.
So, too is the Realm that neither eye has seen, nor ear heard.
We feel the reality in the peace that passes into our Hearts and Minds
When seated in the midst of the Glories of Nature.
Drops of Grace in the Morning Glory and the flitting Monarch.
The Finger of God cannot be seen.
Yet, it is felt in snack offered to “the Least of These” when they hunger.
The Breath of God fills the heart with joy and gladness as fine wine fills the Bride and Bridegroom on their Nuptial Day.
So, too, can the darkness of lesser gods be felt in the lust and greed that their
Systems of Race and Caste endow with power.
Powers and Principalities they were once named.
Loosed abroad to entice the weak and the gullible.
Promises of Power and Riches flow from their lying tongues.
We do not hear the word spoken aloud.
We do not need to.
The evidence…the reality…may be seen in the subjugation of Others.
We may touch their handiwork in those left homeless and without
Food, Clean Water, Warm Clothing, Companionship and Love.
We cannot know from where the Wind blows.
However, we can know that it exists.
We can join with it to produce life.
We are also able to shelter against its ferocity and appetite.
A vault impregnable, impervious, impossibly shut and locked
Is the Heart of Humans.
Desires, hopes, dreams, lusts and longings closed within it.
Steel encased in concrete is like Butterfly wings compared with
Its hardened walls of Flesh.
What kind of dark Humors reside therein?
The swirling mist of “Myself.”
Gazing always inward.
Unable to see or imagine a world outside of
Self-imposed confinement, Completely alone.
Companionless.
There is One.
Who has a Key.
Can we allow this One,
With Pure motives
To unlock the Vault?
So that Light may enter unhindered
And, “Myself” might “See”?
There is Hope
That Freedom may penetrate
And the Heart may become…
More.
What strange Majick is this?
What Craft has loosed this power upon the Universe?
Tis not Majick that raises such music as this!
Listen!
The Mind gathers the elements which flow
Freely through the vales that course through
Its fertile folds and hillocks.
Without incantation, wand, or spell,
Sparks ignite within and current races through
The tight weave of thought
Forming,
Sculpting,
Creating.
Behold these words of mine!
Like the Cosmos before them,
Created Ex Nihilo.
Meaning,
Substance,
Language!
My heart wanders out into dusk
Not quite night; No longer daylight.
Stars wink behind a light veil of clouds
Reflecting off of the shimmering, blue-gray surface of the water.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
My heart looked back and shrugged.
“Off to the forest where once I found in dappled sunlight
the Love of Life.
Then, across the Savannah in search of Hope Immeasurable.”
“But, what if the Beast of the Forest who hides among the
flowering Rowan should appear?
Or, the ravenous Lion of the Great Grasslands?
Surely, you will be devoured!” said I.
With a gleam in his eye and lilt in his voice, he said,
“My Friend, how can I know the exhilaration of living without
a life fraught with such things?
How can I thank the Heavens for Life and Light if I have not
seen the possibility of Death and Darkness?
Where is Joy when there is no sorrow?”
I nodded and watched as my heart turned toward
his destiny and wondered,
“Shall I ever see him again?”
I was going to post this yesterday.
But, I ran out of time.
Kinda like so much else last year.
Goodbye, Old Friend!
You came to us with a shout of gladness,
Clad in diaper and sash.
Quickly you grew in harmony with the world around us.
From infant to child. The green shoot echoing as it pushed through the frost.
You blossomed into a young adult.
Full of promise; growing in Strength.
You worked among us and shared the fruit of your labor.
We all ate and were satisfied.
All too soon, we saw white, like frost on the grass, appear in your hair.
Like the naked trunks of trees, lines began to crease your brow.
Now, your departure is at hand.
It is with profound thanks that we sing this final goodbye.
As I considered the passing of the year I couldn’t separate it from the cycle of life that we experience here. As the world around us stirs and grows from the cold of winter through spring planting. Sowing and reaping; hope and gladness. Until the circle is joined as we bid farewell to our old friend.
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Look!
The breakers pound the shoreline into submission,
Creating sand that a child forms into a castle,
Complete with ramparts and towers where archers
Fire their arrows and bolts at the advancing enemy.
Look!
The hungry person takes bread from the baker!
No money exchanged, the baker raises the alarm.
Stop! Thief!
The hungry person cast into chains and taken
From family, friends, life.
Look!
The rich person snaps fingers and servant scurries.
The rich person nods and gold moves from one rich person to another.
The rich person pays the officer who scatters the poor who hold hands out.
The rich person closes the curtains.
Cheers!
Look…
Ancient stories tell of the Breath of God
Hovering over the deep,
Settling above the chaos.
Order from disorder; life from emptiness.
Look…
See where the Comforter hides
For we cannot see this One anywhere.
Where is the Breath of God?
Chaos reigns in the depths of human hearts.
Look!
O Breath!
See the ruins!
Behold the smoke and fires burning!
When…
Will You calm the chaos that reigns?
Will You breathe new life into these bones of death?
Will You comfort?
What matters whether transcendent or translucent?
Original Sin stains, sealing souls in black plastic wrap.
Light shrouded in gray folds of wayward hungering
Diffusing, obscuring from within and without.
“Not so fast!” a Voice whispers; intones; suggests
“The veil that shrouds the Heart has colored the understanding in colorless shades of shadow.
“Let the Light within dispel such childish notion!
“Arise to the morning and warmth that Truth, like Sunlight, radiates upon the Soul.”
I marvel at this.
What Truth?
Then, like the Dawn, understanding gently begins to illuminate.
All is held in thrall to darkness; decay; death.
This we mistake for Original Sin.
It is not.
Yet, the story doesn’t end there.
No.
This story continues from life to life.
From light to light.
From Love to Love.
Some days my mind just doesn’t want to work.
I look out across the landscape of my imagination and see swirling dust devils and hard, sun baked rocks reaching out of the ground like the dead fingers of some poor, undead soul reaching from the grave.
I wonder, “Where has the lush green forests where unseen woodland creatures dance and play?”
There is nothing.
Perhaps, somewhere beneath this parched surface there lies a seed; dormant; waiting.
If I should quest to find that River of Creativity that meanders through the Cosmos, could I maybe retrieve a cap full of that Blessed water to wet the uncracked germ that houses the glorious life within?
But, that river is like the Nexus from that Star Trek movie. It moves and wanders through the Cosmos seemingly at will. Where will it appear next?
If I may be able to find it, could I possibly dig a ditch to channel some of that Living Water to irrigate the fertile soil of my Mind?
Just a small bit to moisten the earth that forms the womb for the sleeping embryo of Creativity to germinate.
Then, root and shoot moving away. Action; Reaction garnering strength from the germ of life within the seed.
Root searching for moisture and nutrition. Shoot digging ever upward in search of the light and warmth of the Sun.
Leaf and bud forming to empower and create!
That is where Life is!
But, for now, I wait.
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Let Renewing waters, like Breath of God, Flow through you!
All of the dust and grime that has caked itself to your Soul?
Washed away!
Standing naked in the Sun, You are changed.
A Metamorphosis!
A New Creature is Born!
The Apostle wrote that we all must be Metamorphosed
As our Minds are Made New.
Our Head revealed Metamorphosis to His faithful Friends.
He seemed to reveal to them, “This is how you will be!”
Changed!
New!
Everlasting!