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Invitation to Poetry: Shine

Welcome to the Abbey’s Poetry Party #58!

I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post).

In the northern hemisphere we are entering the season of summer – a time of ripeness and illumination. Write a poem this week in celebration of summer’s glories and gifts.  Let’s savor and relish the world’s fullness together through the written word.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Dawn Johnson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sharon Dawn Johnson’s reflection Yearning For Second Spring. Seasonal Thresholds Aroused at first light, the sun peeps over nearby urban rooftops as

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36 Responses

  1. Sit strong in your boat
    Don’t mess with the sails…I’ve already set your course
    I will show you
    how fierce I AM for you
    Sail sweetly, determinedly
    along
    The only thing you need to
    carry with you is the burden
    of being The Beloved

  2. His breath fills my sails and takes me along the road from sunrise to sunset.

    I don’t see it but like the air I know it’s there……giving courage, instilling hope, sensing peace even in the darkest moments and most difficult circumstances.

    When the sails deplete I can rest from all that burdens and drains life from me….immobile from the strain and aches of such events that life unexpectedly brings.

    His grace is sufficient

  3. It is rainy and overcast most of the time here
    I let it be my inner forecast all too often
    Sometimes it takes music or poetry
    To remind me the sun is still shining
    And under the clouds, so can I

  4. Walking in the fire
    Dancing the sacred flames’ rhythm
    Shining forth the sun’s brilliance
    I must burn

    Dancing the sacred flames’ rhythm
    Love’s heat radiating
    I must burn
    In our abiding union

    Love’s heat radiating
    Shining forth the sun’s brilliance
    In our abiding union
    Walking in the fire

  5. Sunlight, flood my boat with your warmth
    Call to the wind to fill up my sails,
    Whisper to the living water, quench my thirst.

    Lord, your love fills me with the warmth of your fire
    Spirit, you breathe life into my heart,
    Father, you nourish me.

  6. Hidden Picture

    A woman lies in the sun,
    a beach chair cradling her,
    a cool drink by her side.
    The sun warms her body.
    The surf lulls her mind.
    The smell of suntan lotion
    and saltwater waft by,
    redolent of childhood laughter.
    She gazes beyond the horizon
    as a paperback book
    slips from her limp hand.

    Where is Jesus in this picture?
    Where is the bearded man,
    whose eyes pierce the soul?
    No one walks on the water.
    No one teaches by the shore.
    Perhaps the woman
    thinks holy thoughts?
    No – she does not think.
    She just is.

    Where is Jesus in this picture?
    Jesus is the sun, the sea, the lotion.
    Jesus is the woman, the waves, the sand.
    Jesus is the warmth and the cool drink.
    Jesus is the smell of water, the memories.
    Jesus is the Sabbath rest, the fallow land.

  7. something is wrong inside.
    has the artist died?
    the photographs have started
    looking rather dreary.

    i gloried in the spring
    as forest and lilac exploded –
    my shutter all aflutter,
    dancing in the freshness.

    it all looks so ordinary now,
    so tattered, so worn.
    even butterfly wings
    seem faded and forlorn.

    something is wrong inside.
    has the Artist died?
    has He left us here alone
    nothing left to hope for?

    “surrender,” He says.
    “it is surrender that creates.”
    and so blossoms wither to fruit,
    to ripen in His light.

    no, the Artist cannot die –
    His surrendering eternal,
    each dying is His own,
    each fruit His own rebirth.

    shedding wings and petal-beauty,
    my heart too surrenders flight,
    its spring resting in warm earth
    to ripen in His light.

  8. Sun shines
    Warmly with light and heat
    Moon glows
    Quietly with wisdom
    Bride’s face
    Luminous with love.

    Sun light fades
    Moon glow dims
    Mom’s face aging
    Still and soft with love.

  9. I wrote this on a beautiful spring day when I couldn’t figure out what to do with myself…

    Spring into Summer

    After months on end of gray day
    after grey day, and every possible variety of rain
    you’d think I would be happy to see the sun.

    But there’s an uneasy restlessness, an unsettled-ness in me
    that I can’t seem to shake.

    Yard working, bike riding, hiking, picnicking, basking –
    everyone else seems to know what to do on this sparkly day.

    I feel lost, anxious, caught off guard,
    as if I’m missing an opportunity, but I don’t know what it is.

    I walk the neighborhood, try to cheer myself up,
    and in the budding trees, the blooming flowers, the growing grass
    I find the source of my discontent.

    It’s a time of becoming, rebirthing, growing, changing
    and like each tree, flower, and blade of grass
    I am being called to come back in a new way,
    to emerge from the darkness and quiet of winter
    into the next stage of my own evolution.

    Part of me resists, unsure of what that looks like,
    afraid of what it might mean.

    The wind whispers a reminder:
    A tree doesn’t worry about what is expected of it next;
    A flower doesn’t question whether it has enough resources to bloom;
    A blade of grass doesn’t wonder if it’s the right shade of green.

    The resistance says, well of course…trees and flowers and blades of grass
    don’t have the capacity to worry and question and wonder.

    Precisely, says the wind…
    they simply keep reaching out to the One who created them,
    their being-ness an example to those who are willing to learn.

  10. GRADUATION KIRTAN
    He dreams of teaching physics to the blind.
    Beats the tabla drum. Chants for wholeness –
    Lokah samastha sukhino bhavanthu
    Wind torn sign reads –
    Congratulation Dr. Johnson.
    He’s moving across the country
    For three months internship.

    Thirty people gather under
    Gazebo shade.

    Marsha blogs interior design
    Sells pet insurance –
    No health coverage for dogs.
    Stays behind with a good job.

    Fender T-shirt,
    Tim plays lead guitar.
    Lost one eye to cancer.
    His arrowhead necklace
    A gift for clarity.

    Bri comforts trauma victims.
    Expressions of scratched pastels
    Speak buried words. Her career
    On hold as she helps Tim.
    .
    Salute the Sun releases Natalie
    Not to take care of everyone.
    Reads the last three lines, Endless Love,
    Over and over. Plays Harmonium, sings –
    It’s all good. It’s all good to me.

    Blue tongue, crow feathers,
    And flower-print pants, Sarah
    Describes her family in word fragments.

    Justin teaches Frankenstein ethics.
    Six years to finish his doctorate.
    Lost seventeen pounds in two weeks.

    The group joins in –
    We shine like diamonds in the sun.
    Everyone of us, everyone of us shines.

    (c) Cindy Rinne