Category: Poetry

And if it’s true we are alone,
we are alone together,
the way blades of grass
are alone, but exist as a field.
Sometimes I feel it,
the green fuse that ignites us,
the wild thrum that unites us,
an inner hum that reminds us
of our shared humanity.
Just as thirty-five trillion
red blood cells join in one body
to become one blood.
Just as one hundred thirty-six thousand
notes make up one symphony.
Alone as we are, our small voices
weave into the one big conversation.
Our actions are essential
to the one infinite story of what it is
to be alive. When we feel alone,
we belong to the grand communion
of those who sometimes feel alone—
we are the dust, the dust that hopes,
a rising of dust, a thrill of dust,
the dust that dances in the light
with all other dust, the dust
that makes the world.

Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed,
beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I’d rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they’re praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

I’d rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.

I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life.
I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.
O’ Sacred One
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace
there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly
and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself
with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater
and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well
as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery
But let this not blind you to what
virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity
and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life
keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery,
and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy

You are beautiful because you tell the truth (as you see it) to yourself and to others, even when it is hard.

You are beautiful because you know that yours is not the only truth.

You are beautiful because you care more about looking like yourself in all the phases of your life than simply looking attractive, whatever that is.

You are beautiful because you rush out the door barefoot and in your pajamas to see sunsets when someone says, “COME SEE THE SKY!,” even when it is freezing outside.

You are beautiful because you are interesting and interested.

You are beautiful because you still express childlike wonder at the least provocation, like spiderwebs or moss on rocks.

You are beautiful because you are fancy in the ways that make you happy and plain in the ways that make you real to yourself.

You are beautiful because you follow threads and discover things about the world that serve no purpose other than being interesting to you.

You are beautiful because you believe things are possible, even when they look impossible.

You are beautiful because you take care of yourself. And your Self.

You are beautiful because you don’t abandon yourself anymore.

You are beautiful because you always believe in the possibilities inherent in other people.

You are beautiful because you go off on tangents.

You are beautiful because you tell a good story.

You are beautiful because you always give a child the last cupcake, even if you are desperate to eat it yourself.

You are beautiful because you think play is not just for children but necessary for humans of all ages.

You are beautiful because you love animals deeply.

You are beautiful because you will never interrupt a child.

You are beautiful because you fall in love quickly and deeply.

You are beautiful because you love to read difficult books.

You are beautiful because you love the challenge of difficult people.

You are beautiful because you are surprising.

You are beautiful because you don’t pick up your end of the rope in a tug of war.

You are beautiful because you create things.

You are beautiful because you open spaces for other people to create things.

You are beautiful because you love the feel of warm grass on your feet in summer.

You are beautiful because the sound of the ocean buoys and feeds you.

You are beautiful because you have experienced trauma and not looked away from it.

You are beautiful because you don’t take yourself too seriously.

You are beautiful because you laugh easily and often.

You are beautiful because you don’t pretend to be someone you are not.

You are beautiful because you forge connections between people.

You are beautiful because you dare.

You are beautiful because money has never been your reason or your excuse.

You are beautiful because you can give up your attachment to being right when needed for your own happiness or the happiness of someone else.

You are beautiful because you are loyal to your friends.

You are beautiful because you can forgive and maintain your boundaries simultaneously.

You are beautiful because you know all the rules are made up.

You are beautiful because you keep getting back up after a blow.

You are beautiful because you stand up for justice.

You are beautiful because you see what others may not see.

You are beautiful because you are not willing to compromise your values.

You are beautiful because you know what matters to you.

You are beautiful because you let others live the lives they want to live.

You are beautiful because you don’t look away from pain.

You are beautiful because you choose to learn instead of judging.

You are beautiful because you don’t lash out at people who are lashing out at you.

You are beautiful because you see beauty and complexity in every human.

You are beautiful because you are funny.

You are beautiful because your heart is full of knowing.

You are beautiful because you are just as wise as you are smart.

You are beautiful because you love the way the sun hits the trees.

You are beautiful because you say “yes” when you can—and “no” when you must.

You are beautiful because you know the power of silence.

You are beautiful because you don’t feel the need to explain yourself.

You are beautiful because you will always support the rights of others.

You are beautiful because you delight in small things.

You are beautiful because you acknowledge the best in yourself and forgive the worst in yourself and others.

You are beautiful just because you are.

You are beautiful because you know.

You are beautiful.

Don’t ever forget that.

THE SADDEST MAN ON EARTH…
ignored how the rain felt
as he left home
for the last time

Wore down
his boot heels
searching for the woman
of his dreams,
but never understood
that life is a woman

Lived in a town
where sadness was illegal
and where grinning
cops ticketed his face
so often
that he lost his license
to cry

The Saddest man
on earth
tuned guitars
but couldn’t play them,
cheated the IRS
of his own refund,
fathered a child
who thought she saw
him in perfect strangers
yet didn’t recognize
him face to face

I met him once
in a bar
toasting the mirror
with his stare

He had come
south to start
life over

He was a
Mozart of silence

Tears, flow no more, or if you needs must flow,
Fall yet more slow,
Do not the world invade,
From smaller springs than yours rivers have grown,
And they again a sea have made,
Brackish like you, and which like you hath flown.

Ebb to my heart, and on the burning fires
Of my desires,
O let your torrents fall,
From smaller heat than theirs such sparks arise
As into flame converting all,
This world might be but my love’s sacrifice.

Yet if the tempests of my sighs so blow
You both must flow,
And my desires still burn,
Since that in vain all help my love requires,
Why may not yet their rages turn
To dry those tears, and to blow out those fires ?

Before you came
A word you said
Ran through my days
Like living flame.

It was not you—
It was a name
For loveliness…
And yet it drew

Your self for me
So that I knew
Your mood, your smile,
All you must be.

Oh, long ago
I dreamed you so—
Subtle as flame,

And cold as frost,
And mine, and lost
Before you came.

My years fall softly,
Softly,
Like petals of a rose,
And leave me
A barren withered stalk
That dangles in the winds.

Let us forget awhile—or may
We not drift into yesterday
And play?—

Forget for a moment years
Crowded with shuddering fears,
With tears?

Lift high your hands again, and try
To be a thrush, to touch the sky,
To fly.

Dance down a sunbeam ray, bright
Like the day tossed from the night
To light.

Laugh to the flowers, that you
Colored the sunshine anew
With dew.

Whisper to me youth was so—
You too remember and know—
Then go.