paved with rare jewels

still if you remove your shoes

precious gemstones cut your feet

broken bench in the field

stone birdbath in pieces

some few half-buried paving tiles

dreams collapse all the time

this cannot be done

that will not happen

whatever this or that might be

grieve not for the fall

no failure this passage

beauty abides in fallow ground

peace in just this moment

this moment of now

this leaf poised on the precipice of turn

this morning crisp with foretelling

this breath without any need

this step on the timeless threshold

this invitation to go beyond

one hand touches the earth

in order to contain the day

this day, the only day we have

build it carefully around each breath

each heartbeat each blink of the eye

the respiratory exchange the cadenced pulse

the pupillary response to light

these indicatory of physical life the structured body

the corporeal manifest all for naught

unless we construct with intent

know where we begin and end

always always let both these be

compassion and wisdom

resounds the hue and cry, the clamor of it all

noise and spectacle overwhelm, and now the digital rise

always the way of things, that

distractions pull our scattered attention

a startled creature skittering without direction

but here a place to rest your mind

the refuge of the present moment

see without being a seer

hear without having to listen

feel without owning a body

relax and do not be afraid

the web of vast interconnection holds you

in your letting go find

nothing lost but all gained

(With thanks to Richard M )

in one vibrating string hear every song you’ve ever heard

a first tune softly hummed before you were born

cryptic whimsy chanted when children play

a deepening dip and soar as love makes its trek through time

dolorous somber tones marking the shock of loss and death

a wavering catch and wail for any lonesome season

the unaccompanied steady beat beat beat

when your heart fills the silent hour

these all forever there-heard or not, it does not matter

in the movement of that singular string, you can sit within each moment

within that stillness that underlies

every shaping sound, each noting measure

and do nothing then but rest

what do we breathe like water

gulp down like air

plunging through catchless sky and seamless waves

tossed without ceasing by riptides and wind

each day each moment brings its own weather

each morning we begin again

learn to ride the hidden currents

learn not to throw ourselves against the clouds

or not, and arrive at night

drenched and bruised by endless falls

the silence of the moon refused my dreams

letting them fall useless back to ground

shattering unheard like junkyard glass, like ramshackle dreams,

like a haggard heart battered by weary patience

so finally I slept, thus unburdened by heavy want

and awoke to step with lighter mien

the day now met as just it was, not as something it should be