one foot out the door
the other on the threshold
a pause to look back
only but a caesura
a space where I had rested
these four walls this roof
a temporary shelter
longer than some but never mine
every home that inhabits me
any home that I can claim
I carry with me
abiding in the steadfast of love
to awaken from this dream
into bare rooms and vacant walls
with every step the floorboards crumble
falling away into ash and dust
light streams in from the morning sun
as the roofing joins the cumulus array
even this body discards form
skin and flesh slough off for varmint food
bones fragment to pebbles in the dirt
ragged filaments of dreams and desires
left for claim by spiders and beetles
finally self itself drifts apart
like the parachute wisps of dandelion seeds
perhaps of use by birds for a nest
happiness indeed
harvest stones as you find them
their shades of gray
mirror the clouds above the ridge
place them as bouquets
upon all the graves where rest
the dead the dead the dead
the buried moments the lost years
the thrown-away lives
these limned by hastened time
your bones become rocks
your eyes blackened coal
these line the forgotten trails
hurry now
pay attention
wake up
when it winds through the trees
glides across the grass on the hillside
knocks against the crops in the field
does it repeat the gossip overheard
from the birds that gather on the wire
translate the busy chatters
barked by any scurry of squirrels
or even drop trivial tidbits
retrieved from human conversations
perhaps none of these, and it is silent
with no need to do anything other
than be the wind
train tracks a slick of light
streaking into the endless moment
undersides of brush usually penumbral
aglow with invitation to transform
metallic discards made ornaments in the road
bright as fallen pieces of daybreak
what wonders surround the ordinary present
what brilliance can be always found
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 )
sky finally lightened
air outside cooler, made damp
by gauzy fog and the steady trickle from sodden leaves
here and there purple blooms
evanescent, half-hidden in green variations
too shy to trumpet their colorful mien
in contrast to dirt-gray storm debris
washed from ditches’ overflow
two startling specks of scarlet in the street
a pair of cardinals at morning play
the plaintive calls of turtle doves
soon overridden by the clockwork cries
of Canadian geese on their scheduled flight
all these an answer, a sufficient reply
every moment is enough
smoke and ash haze the sky
their murk a blind concealing the sun
nothing new in this fire
the world has always burned
even in the coldest ice
knowing this
do we see only the flames
or choose to rest and look beyond
to the clear light from the moon and stars
our own awareness as it abides
the house falls around us
walls collapsing one by one
roof-beams so rotted they cannot hold
flooring derelict beyond repair
still we turn our faces away
choosing to ignore each crash
our eyes fixed in rabid gaze
on the dirty mirror where we think we live
and in our disordered ignorance
everything glitters with fake tawdy shine
ground overhung with fog and drip from trees
all light subdued and noise muffled
the lone volunteer pink rose now decimated
replaced by a pale white glory more fitted to the hour
tracks uncharacteristically silent
the railroad corvids yet to convene
until after the train’s blasting rumble
detritus trail their reason to gather
the stream beside the field similarly uninhabited
its usual raft of ducks absent
its murmur now audible without their squawk and paddle
an accompaniment to the huff of my dog
rainbow-hued ribbon of birdsong
curling through branches and along rooftops
a threaded brightness pointing beyond
to the ever-present light of the sun
