The rain has come and washed away

much of the grime

of yesterday,

replenishing

the land, the pond and me. Yet, that’s

not always so.

Rain can fall too

long and hard or

not come at all, but for now I

celebrate the

just rightness of

this needed rain.

                                         JDG

Before the day begins, when it’s

only the birds,

some squirrels, my

dogs and me, when

only the slightest breeze disturbs

the trees, the rain

has stopped and there’s

not a ripple

on the pond from turtle or snake,

I meet myself

again after

night’s brief  parting.

                                                             JDG

Sunday’s slow and steady rain brought

me quietly

inside where I

could linger for

a while over books and tea.

I soaked myself

in timelessness,

savoring the

       chance to pause and  slowly steep  in

reverie, a

welcome reprieve

from busyness.

                                                JDG

May our minds be clear and our hearts

be open with

each breath we take.

Let this be the

ground from which we listen and from

which we speak. May

our minds be clear

and our hearts be

open to all that has been, all

that is and all

to come as we

 make sacred space.

                                                                                   JDG

On the dock, new fishing pole in

hand, they sat, these

two granddaughters

of mine, gladly

fishing as the sun slowly sank

beyond the hills.

They both swear they

caught a fish named

George twenty-seven times if you

count both this year

and years past. George

just can’t resist.

                                                              JDG

In the distance the sun might break

through, but here there’s

just a haze of

grey. There’s no need

to wait upon the sun. We can

join the rabbits,

the crows, the deer

and get started

in the grey that’s here. The sun may

shine or it may

not, but this is

the day we’ve got.

                                                                                   JDG

From a sky of slowly shifting

gray, a light rain

falls on waiting

ground, greeting all

that’s new, refreshing all that’s old,

allowing time

for reverie,

making space for

a slow settling of what once

was, preparing

fertile ground for

what is to come.

                                                 JDG

Going

Commentaries began non-stop

before we left

the parking lot.

We weren’t there yet

even though they asked a thousand

times, nor were we

near a place to

stop when they had

to go. Being in the now left

me sort of cold.

With things so hot,

I’d rather not.

Returning

Two hours had passed and we had

gone no more than

fifty miles. It

was strictly stop

and go with much more stop than go.

One felt queasy,

one was mad, one

had a headache,

another was sad . Breathing in

the good took real

work as our trip

became prolonged.

                                                                  JDG

At eighteen I never questioned

what I thought I

knew – that if you

had a dream, you

could make it so. The dream was all

I focused on,

ignoring all

the while, the path

I’d take to make that dream come true.

I live now, not

with the dream, but

with the path I took.

                                                             JDG

At last, when all is said and done

and the final

act is finished,

what then remains?

What outlasts our words and projects,

our bleak failures,

our bright success?

It’s those moments

when all the trappings fell away

and our essence,

unencumbered,

came shining through.

                                                                      JDG