Endangered Species

  Passing Moments The sea is calm today      a great blue bowl of light...      awaiting my notice.   Too often I am so busy      living in my own head...   that I fail to attend to      either the sea, the clouds or      the sweet rush of a rising wind...   Deserving or not,       I am showered with gifts...   So why do I choose       an inner landscape       filled with...whatever...   when all of life—      here and now       bursting with beauty      is calling...calling      urging me to grasp it...   and celebrate      each passing moment?

Lightning Strikes   I’m trying to write verses    that pierce the night    like a lightning strike...   all the while knowing   my efforts may fail.     There’s but one who creates    brilliance all the time—     who paints neon colors across the sky   splashes clouds with fiery finger paints   lavishes oceans with rippling radiance   makes even a desert a thing of beauty...     If such luminous artistry    can’t make us pause—   gasping in wonder...   what can possibly inspire us   to set aside all else   and celebrate    these too-brief lives   that come and go...     like dazzling lightning strikes? Photo Credits: Melody P - Upsplash Clinton Naik - Upsplash

  Eventide   The shadow of approaching night        lies soft and sinuous in the valley...   A new moon smiles a crooked smile      while a single star winks a welcome...   Already I have forgotten the day’s disputes       its tiny victories, its nagging concerns...   Peace sweeps over me like a gentle wind;       you gather me in, Lord, and I surrender...   I fear not the coming darkness      when you surround me singing love songs...   in the hush of the day’s ending...      in the still of eventide. Photo Credit: Slim Lakka - Upsplash          

  Mother of All Mothers Lie down sometime on the naked earth and listen for her heartbeat.   Do you doubt she has one?   Mere words will not convince you— you must hear it for yourself.     So come lie down on the naked earth;   embrace the mother of all mothers...   Listen for her heartbeat—   your  heartbeat... my  heartbeat the thunder of all life...     Can there be any greater miracle  than being alive...and loving it? Photo Credit: Wes Hicks - Upsplash    

The Circle   I remember watching you sleep and asking “What if you die?”          what will I do?     where will I go?     how will I keep on living?   I know the answers now... I did not die when you died          the sun kept rising     the wind kept ruffling the sea     the rain wept silvery tears   you left—no!  you are still here…   somehow, you are still here       in every moonbeam     rustle of leaf     roll of thunder      scent of rain      in every spill of summer light...   in the night I breathe you     you breathe me       sigh my sighs     smile my smiles     dream my dreams...   the circle opens an...

Different Gifts For no good reason that I can see...   my little dog woofs a warning— telling me to come.   Come now!   Now. Now. Now   His eyes say:   Can’t you hear it? Can’t you smell it? Can’t you see it?   He doesn’t understand our gifts are different...   No, I can't always hear,  smell or see what he can.   Nor can he know what I know.   Nor can I know what  you  know.   Nor can  you  know what  I  know.   That’s the thing, you see. We each have different gifts—   different points of view.   Doesn’t mean one is wrong, the other right. Or vice versa.   I’m trying to explain this to my dog.   Haven’t had much luck  explaining it to humans—   or even, sometimes, to myself. Photo Credit: Simona Sergi - Upsplash

  Catching a Poem   This moment caught will not come again or if it does... it will be wearing  new arrayment.   Quick. Mustn’t let it get away or I’ll never learn the truth it might  have taught me.   Isn’t that reason enough  to write poetry— to learn our own truths? And in moments of wild abandon share them with others?   If you need one, Here it is... Don’t let your losses stop you from surfing new waves of gladness.   That image came to me while writing poetry. It came from nowhere... all on its own. Now I give it to you—   Just be happy, will you?   No matter what happens in our loss-prone lives, we must strive to catch the next wave of happiness.   It’s why we’re here, isn’t it?   Did any of us come for the sake of being miserable? Photo Credit: Oliver Sjostrom - Upsplash