When cold winds cease and the sun peeks
from still darkened
skies, hunched shoulders
ease and a slow
gentling comes to fast beating hearts.
For a time at
least, peace settles
in, taking us
into its large arms, quieting our
troubled thoughts. What
tomorrow brings
we do not know.
For now, we rest.
JDG
Trees overlooking the highway
stand rooted, limbs
outstretched, watching
the cars speed by.
Whispering among themselves, they
seem to wonder
what the hurry’s
for. These big wheeled
creatures down below seem to draw
energy from
a different,
unearthly source.
JDG
The full moon can’t promise to stay,
yet I take heart.
Though shortly it
will wane, I know
it won’t be long before it’s full
again. Maybe
Frost was right when
he said nothing
gold can stay, but even though gold
fades, still, it can
in time return –
as does the moon.
JDG
I awoke today with the words,
“Happiness grows
on a Mulberry
Tree,” running through
my mind. Though the sound was pleasing,
the meaning was
unclear until
I read that this
tree puts out no growth until all
danger of frost
is past and then
the buds burst forth.
JDG
There are questions words can’t answer
which are still worth
pondering. They
can nudge and shake
us toward awakening, open
resisting minds
and stubborn hearts,
and point to a
wordless path of deep compassion
for ourselves and
all others, those
here and those gone.
JDG
When our very being is set
trembling and
no longer can
we go on as
before, we can take refuge in
surrender and
offer up all
we think we know.
Into this newly opened space
can come a flow,
ever-changing,
yet always there.
JDG
In remembering we try to
put together
what has fallen
apart. We think
back to what we could have, might have,
should have done and
weep. Our nights fill
with if only
as guilt and anger poke and creep
about the room
fusing with a
sadness beyond words.
JDG
“It’s like a rainbow steadily
fading,” he said,
this shy twelve-year
old, struggling
to find a way to speak of his
sadness. What started
out many hued
and bright is now
a vague suggestion of what was,
and he is left
still longing for
a hint of gold.
JDG
Sitting here, breathing in and out
in a silent
steady way, I
gradually see
this simple act in a whole new
way: if we want
to stay alive
we must let go
of all that’s old and open to what’s
new. To hold on
or shut out halts
life’s basic flow.
JDG
(with thanks to Dennis Lewis and The Tao of Natural Breathing )
Round and round I go, caught in some
whirlpool of thought,
making waves of
an unpleasant
sort. Yet, there’s an ever-present
rope nearby if
I can turn my
attention there,
nothing dramatic – just a small
and steady shift
to watch my breath
move in and out.
JDG
aholdingplace 