Circles in the Wilderness

I have filled myself with beauty against you
Matisse blue in the museum
Bougainvillea climbing the concrete wall
Light on the Bay reflecting, reflecting

I have filled my mind with the beauty of words
The story of the people of Judea
Who crossed the deserts and gave their offerings
They too survived evil

I have filled my ears with the music
Of healing love, the voice of the tribes woman
Singing the long song of outliving the beast
And rejoicing the child newborn

I have filled my mouth
With the food of the angels, honey and lemon,
The fruit that grows from the womb of the earth,
Its seed containing all that is good in our world

I have looked again to the stars, to the sea,
To the beautiful things that man has made,
The voice of the children from the schoolyard
The light filling the window, the small bird
Perched on the last leaves of autumn

Darkness is nothing new on this planet
We lurch from sweet times to bitter
The world reveals our struggle and our strength
Tomorrow and tomorrow as long as we are here

We turn our backs on those who curdle the milk
Who sour the day with their stark greed
Together tomorrow and tomorrow we take a hand
Give our coins to the beggar in the train station

We are the conundrum ourselves, our shadow
And our light, the fig and date, the poison hemlock
Which is your future, your past, dear hearts
As the year unwinds, and resistance ripens

Even in darkness.

     For Ruth Stone, Royal Barnard Nov. 21, 2017

--Yvonne Daley

Introductions

Let’s not say our names
or what we do for a living.
If we are married
and how many times.
Single, gay, or vegan.

Let’s not mention
how far we got in school.
Who we know,
what we’re good at
or no good at, at all.

Let’s not hint at
how much money we have
or how little.
Where we go to church
or that we don’t.
What our Sun Sign is
our Enneagram number
our personality type according to Jung
or whether we’ve ever been
Rolfed, arrested, psychoanalyzed,
or artificially suntanned.

Let’s refrain, too, from stating any ills.
What meds we’re on
including probiotics.
How many surgeries we’ve survived
or our children’s children’s problems.
And, please—
let’s not mention
who we voted for
in the last election.

Let’s do this instead:
Let’s start by telling
just one small thing
that costs us nothing
but our attention.

Something simple
that nourishes
the soul of our bones.
How it was this morning
stooping to pet the sleeping dog’s muzzle
before going off to work.

Or
yesterday,
walking in the woods
spotting that fungus on the stump
of a maple
so astonishingly orange
it glowed like a lamp.

Or just now,
the sound
of your
own breath
rising
or sinking
at the end
of this
sentence.

--Susan Glassmeyer

Great Things and Big Plans

I am done with great things and big plans, 

great institutions and big successes. 

I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces 

that work from individual to individual, 

creeping through the crannies of the world 

like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, 

yet which, given time, will rend 

the hardest monuments of human pride.

--William James

Their Slow Way

Let these woods have their

slow way with you.  Patient

pines that hold their green

through all the frozen seasons,

lichen-covered rocks that live

indifferent to time's passage--

these will teach you how to

bring your life to ground.

The fractal chaos of the forest

floor, its white anemones,

spiked grasses and dead leaves,

the fallen trunks and branches

splayed out like pick-up sticks--

these will teach you how

to live freely, with abandon,

and feed the roots of new growth

when your time has come.

--Parker J. Palmer

Mercy Now

My father could use a little mercy now
The fruits of his labor fall and rot slowly on the ground
His work is almost over it won't be long, he won't be around
I love my father, he could use some mercy now

My brother could use a little mercy now
He's a stranger to freedom, he's shackled to his fear and his doubt
The pain that he lives in it's almost more than living will allow
I love my bother, he could use some mercy now

My church and my country could use a little mercy now
As they sink into a poisoned pit it's going to take forever to climb out
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down
I love my church and country, they could use some mercy now

Every living thing could use a little mercy now
Only the hand of grace can end the race towards another mushroom cloud
People in power, they'll do anything to keep their crown
I love life and life itself could use some mercy now

Yeah, we all could use a little mercy now
I know we don't deserve it but we need it anyhow
We hang in the balance dangle 'tween hell and hallowed ground
And every single one of us could use some mercy now

Every single one of us could use some mercy now
Every single one of us could use some mercy now

--Mary Gauthier (lyrics)

Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-sabi suggests that beauty is a dynamic event 

that occurs between you and something else. 

Beauty can spontaneously occur 

at any moment given the

proper circumstances, context, or point of view. 

Beauty is thus an altered state of consciousness, 

an extraordinary moment of 

poetry and grace.

– Leonard Koren

Learning is the Thing for You

The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin..."is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. 

--T. H. White, The Once and Future King