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Breathing Air on a Wintry Day

The lady

at the drive-through eatery

has a voice like honey

and a smile like sunshine.

She always processes

our order with elegance 

(although we first have to talk to annoying AI at the speaker box), and with a kind flourish passes our food out the drive-up window to our eager hands; 

"Here you go; be careful now, those fries are hot; enjoy your meal."

Well, one particular...

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To Be Free

I thought you had departed,

truly, for better skies,

and I sadly started preparing

for the celebration of you,

but then you returned,

knocked about by your journey, yes,

but still breathing,

so I happily started preparing

for the celebration of you.

Oh, these fleeting days!

We cling to them like chains around our heart,

breathless with fear,

until one day

we ...

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Luminescent

The silence was so deep

I thought you had flown away,

but then I heard you

rustling in the leaves.

You never showed your face,

I only heard a flutter of wings

and glimpsed the golden color

on the edges of your shadow.

Oh beautiful, beautiful being,

return to us we ask--

grace us with your light

and abide with us

in our wanderings.

We feel your love

in this...

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Doing

If you don't know what to do,

let go of the need

to do anything,

and then relax 

and watch the thing to do

arrive with calm clarity

in your mind, 

when the time is right.

Relaxing and letting go 

opens the door to insight,

insight opens the window

to understanding.

If you don't know what to do,

invite wisdom to pay a visit,

then wait patiently

for a gen...

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Distillation

Life can be complicated,

this we know,

layers and layers of stuff

bundled up like unwashed clothes.

But then sometimes,

like steam rising

from cascading water,

there is a distillation--

things become crystal clear,

simple,

understood.

This is a beautiful alchemy,

a flowering of wisdom,

a grace-filled gift--

we bow our heads

and give thanks.

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Family

When I pass you

in your silence

in the hallways of the day,

I tap my heart and pray

for the opening of our minds,

for the illumination of our spirits,

travelling wide

on this blue orb,

travelling deep

down to our bones--

may our steps be light,

may our songs be lifted

up, up, up

to the healing heights

of the endless skies.

You are mine

and I am yours...

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Easter

I will turn my attention

to beauty

& I will see it everywhere,

in the cries & in the silences,

in the rising & in the collapsing,

in the ugly & in the appealing.

Beauty is the song

that never stops hoping,

beauty is the glimmer of possibility, always.

I will turn my thoughts to beauty,

I will listen for the life-giving voice,

I will not be defeated by sorrow,

I ...

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Midnight

 

I heard the angels singing at midnight,

a lullaby of rest,

like a babe swaddled in the arms of Love,

I closed my eyes & slept.

Into my dreams

their melodies rang out--

all is well,

all is well,

perfection is a mirror,

an image

seen through the skies

of the dark,

seen through the skies

of the light,

you & me reflecting each other,

all is perfect,

...

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A Walk & A Prayer

Walking

 

Keep it light,

keep it bright,

the end in sight

shines warmly.

Your love wraps me

in sunshine,

nothing but beauty abounds

in the land of our ascending dreams. 

Come, take a walk with me.

 

Loving, Praying, Seeing

 

Can I love you back

to wholeness?

I tap my heart

& sing you a silent melody.

Can I pray you back to yourself?

You are ...

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Prayers for Healing of the Mind

The Tiniest Drops

 

Where did we learn to be the way we are--

the crazy cruel parts of who we are--

we look to the innocence of childhood

& wonder--

how did it go so wrong

as the years rolled by--

is the classroom just this life,

or does it extend wider & deeper

to places that live in imagination--

no answers of course,

but in the questioning,

we bow humbly &...

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Every

Every person

who walked into my life

was exactly the person

I needed to help me

climb the mountain.

Thank you!

was the song that rang out

across the valleys & hills

& up into the skies,

far beyond

to where my eyes

could not see.

Thank you!

for the visions 

that arrived

before my sightless eyes--

close your eyes,

open your heart,

everything you ...

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Altar of Our Suffering

Jesus was a sacrificial lamb

it is said

but oh who created these altars of our suffering?

An innocent was born into love

but grew into hate

when we weren't looking.

The line between love & hate is thin

it is said,

I disbelieved this--

until I saw it.

But the lines blur

as we close our eyes

& dissolve

into love.

Hate is but smoke 

that drifts away

on ...

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Today, Welcome

Today

 

Nothing is ever perfect,

you know,

until I name it so,

& in the naming

there is a re-framing,

an uplift,

a possibility--

this is a perfect day 

come what may,

because I have named it so. 

 

Welcome

 

A wise teacher said

there are 2 things in life

no one can escape,

work & pain.

I thought about this

and concluded

yes, for the mo...

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Learning & Communicating (2 parts)

Knowledge

 

I can read all the books

in the world

but until I feel it down deep in my bones,

it ain't gonna make a damn bit of difference.

Knowledge ain't facts,

I'm tellin' you,

knowledge is experience.

So feel it,

then you will know it.

 

Gathering Rocks

 

Take it slow & easy

he said as he rolled away in his pickup truck.

I tried to remember his ad...

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Faith

When you have faith,

eveything changes.

When you have faith,

how can you worry?

Faith--belief in the best

unfolding in every moment--

the best for the growth of the soul--

lifts burdens,

opens eyes,

soothes heartache,

mends brokenness--

faith is the elixir of life--

drink of its joy

& be happy.

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Community

Friendship is a beautiful thing,

it lifts you up when you are down,

it carries you to the world of warmth & smiles.

If you wake up one morning

& find yourself without a friend in the world,

worry not, just rise & put on your walking shoes,

go out your front door,

say howdy to a neighbor,

find your way to the nearest library or church or school office or some other place tha...

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Slowly

Rome wasn't built in a day

mom used to say

when we wanted things done right away,

as in yesterday.

Mom walked like

an elegant mule,

slow & steady

going about the chores

of the day.

Maybe when she was younger she twirled around like a spinning top (I don't know I wasn't born yet),

but as long as I knew her

she moved like a calm glacier--

vast & wise in the knowle...

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Freedom

Tied to things that bind us 

we yearn to be free.

We tell ourselves to change,

we feel guilty,

we suffer,

& yet we continue our patterns,

again & again.

Wait a minute, say ones who have walked the path,

who have climbed arduously up the mountain & reached the summit of freedom--

wait a sweet minute, they say--

Stop!

Stop feeling guilty, stop endlessly shaming yours...

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Float

Rather than muddling your brain with worry

spend your time clearing your energy field,

you know that aura that surrounds your body

like the halos around the heads of saints & holy ones 

depicted in paintings of ages past.

Clean it out with rain & sunshine & prayer

until you glisten in the soft light of the day

& walking outside & around your home & all the places you go

you...

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Perhaps

I really don't know what to say

about life & death

loving & hating

birthing & dying

saving & killing,

creatures of all kinds,

humankind just one of--

on this planet--

walking & running

moving & sleeping

rising & falling,

energetic patterns

matrixes & portals

light & dark

black & white

rainbows & shades

in between--

re all of the above--

I reall...

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3 Course Meal

Appetizer

 

Fill your heart with love

& trust the process of Life

 

Entrée

 

Settle down for the full ride

Say grace

Savor each morsel

Be mindful & don't rush

Try not to overdo

Give gratitude

 

Dessert

 

Create or do something

that cleanses, uplifts, comforts

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Prayer for Healing

Rain drums on roof

& walls & tables

Pray for healing

Rain splashes on roads

& walkways & windows

Pray for healing

Drum drum drum

The ancestors arrive

Splash splash splash

The water replenishes

The plants stretch & reach

gratefully to the sky

The animals scurry & nestle quietly in the earth

Rain drums & splashes

& wild minds calm

to the rhythms

of the...

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Inexplicably

I want to live with joy

so radically

that everything that comes into my awareness is met with eager curiousity and a complete absence of judgment.

Is this humanly possible?

Probably not

but I'm going to try anyway.

I worry, I judge, I get annoyed,

I get hopeless, I get exhausted--

until I stop myself--

why am I doing this to myself?

Do it differently--

I want to li...

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