Tess’ Sunday Collection is all about autumn, so head on over to read a number of wonderful links!
Bette has blessed me this day with the kindest and most gracious words.  Bette has been reading my blog since almost the beginning and has become a wonderful online friend who has inspired me in many ways, not […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Cycles and Seasons | 5 Comments »

Sunflower
What sower walked over the earth,
which hands sowed
our inward seeds of fire?
they went out from his fists like rainbow curves
to frozen earth, young loam, hot sand,
they will sleep there
greedily, and drink up our lives
and explode it into pieces
for the sake of a sunflower that you haven’t seen
or a thistle head or a chrysanthemum.
Let the young […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Sacred Everyday | 9 Comments »

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the way is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road–
Only wakes upon the sea.
Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino, y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Dreams | 13 Comments »

I found this poem the other day at Northwoods Contemplative and it speaks to me in the most amazing and direct way.   I am in a period of intense wrestling with my relationship to institutional religion, while my faith in God and experience of sacred presence has never been stronger. 
Forget Everything
If someone says, “To be enlightened you must
fast and pray […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry | 12 Comments »

Valentine for Ernest Mann
You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell a secret instead:
poems hide. In […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry | 15 Comments »

Act Great
What is the key
To untie the knot of your mind’s suffering?
What
Is the esoteric secret
To slay the crazed one whom each of us
Did wed
And who can ruin
Our heart’s and eye’s exquisite tender
Landscape?
Hafiz has found
Two emerald words that
Restored
Me
That I now cling to as I would sacred
Tresses of my Beloved’s
Hair:
Act great.
My dear, always act great.
What is the […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry | 2 Comments »

 
Working Together
We shape our self 
to fit this world
and by the world 
are shaped again.
The visible 
and the invisible
working together 
in common cause,
to produce 
the miraculous.
I am thinking of the way 
the intangible air
passed at speed 
round a shaped wing
easily 
holds our weight.
So may we, in this life 
trust
to those elements 
we have yet to see
or imagine, 
and look for the true
shape of our own self 
by […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry | 6 Comments »

I am so very moved at the poetic response to my post of a few days ago.  I have absolutely loved reading your words and have really gathered them close to my heart and reflected on the meaning of freedom and why the cage can sometimes be so inviting, so comfortable and what it takes […]

Posted in Poetry | 9 Comments »

The world does not need words. It articulates itself
in sunlight, leaves, and shadows. The stones on the path
are no less real for lying uncatalogued and uncounted.
The fluent leaves speak only the dialect of pure being.
The kiss is still fully itself though no words were spoken.
And one word transforms it into something less or other –
illicit, […]

Posted in Poetry, Art and Spirituality, Sacred Everyday | 6 Comments »

“O shy moon
don’t give in to the pushy clouds
you are above them”
-one of the Haiku read aloud at the end of the evening written by a fellow moon-gazer
(I apologize for not catching the name)
We attended the Moon Viewing event at the Japanese Garden last night and I was entranced the whole evening despite the fact […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Cycles and Seasons, Nature | 8 Comments »