All That We Are

All that we are
arises with our thoughts.
Speak or act with a pure mind and heart
and happiness will follow you
as your shadow, unshakable.

—The Buddha

There is a Road Always Beckoning

There is a road
always
beckoning.

When you see
the two sides
of it
closing together
at that far horizon

and deep in
the foundations
of your own
heart
at exactly
the same
time,

that’s how
you know
it's where
you
have
to go.

That’s how
you know
it’s the road
you
have
to follow.

That’s
how you know.

It’s just beyond
yourself,

it’s
where you
need to be.

--David Whyte

[Photo from 

Thingvellir National Park, Iceland in Feb. 2020]

Groundhog Day

Celebrate this unlikely oracle,

this ball of fat and fur,

whom we so mysteriously endow

with the power to predict spring.

Let’s hear it for the improbable heroes who,

frightened at their own shadows,

nonetheless unwittingly work miracles.

Why shouldn’t we believe

this peculiar rodent holds power

over sun and seasons in his stubby paw?

Who says that God is all grandeur and glory?

Unnoticed in the earth, worms

are busily, brainlessly, tilling the soil.

Field mice, all unthinking, have scattered

seeds that will take root and grow.

Grape hyacinths, against all reason,

have been holding up green shoots beneath the snow.

How do you think spring arrives?

There is nothing quieter, nothing

more secret, miraculous, mundane.

Do you want to play your part

in bringing it to birth? Nothing simpler.

Find a spot not too far from the ground

and wait.

-- Lynn Ungar