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Return To Silence
That which is born to light
will soon return into the night,
and with the passing of each round,
renounce all claim to vanity
that once was amply found.
So as the Jacaranda finds
short majesty bestowed, erstwhile
upon its bows in splendour crowned,
no trace there now to signify
what formerly was plain.
So too the popinjay, with pride,
boasts loud of plumage rarified,
and, feeling buoyed by great renown,
remembers not there was supplied
a debt yet to be paid.
Voices of the myriad choirs
ring out into the gaping skies
with jubilant almighty sound,
yet soon return to silence;
we all are set homebound.
Seed
You heard it once you were no good
and so the seed was sown,
and being one of care, intent
you took it home and watered it,
and the seed began to sprout.
And so began a love affair
to rival any other match,
you put all your attention there,
in case you ever did forget
the truth of who you were.
Time and again the world would show you
just how right the word could be -
a sapling now with strengthened trunk,
concentric rings to firm the rod
and shape the word in deed.
So up and up your captor grew
until there was no patch of sky there left,
and, shaded from the light above,
below the roots were set so deep
you could not move one inch.
​
From this place of seeming fixity
there was nothing more in you to give -
no deed, no word, no thought, no form
to fertilise the spectre.
And in that moment you were freed;
there never was a seed.
Dear Ego
Dear Ego,
It’s not really working out,
I think it’s time we call it quits.
We’ve had a good run
and I know you’ve tried your best,
it’s just we clearly want different things.
You love a bit of drama,
regretting things that are long gone
or fretting about what’s about to happen,
trying to be anywhere but here and now
when that’s all that I’ve got.
I really do appreciate your efforts
as I wouldn’t be where I am now without you,
but we’ve reached the end of the road
and the thing is it’s not you, it’s me;
I’m ready to live in peace.
Siren Call
They are not monsters but men,
drowning in a sea of mind-made hate.
Separated from the whole, they
spew out shards to cut and maim
the threads that bind us all.
From within and from without
we hear the sirens calling through the night.
Soaring melodies enhance
the voice of grief that cries in pain
“avenge, it’s only right!”
Oh, exquisite enmity - the flame
that draws us closer to those shores.
Soon we are upon the rocks,
our vessel driven hard and fast,
splinters and is lost.
For love was never born from hate
or truth from bitter words.
Nor peace from war against a foe
that lies within us all unseen and
clouds the way from sight.
​
Keep steady then on this our course
with lightness in your heart.
And carry the whole world of men
in tenderness amidst the storm,
till all are safely home.
​
The Spring
Like being in a desert without water
Searching for something to quench your thirst
You try simulations of water, paint pictures of water
Write about water, dream of water
You remain thirsty
In your hour of greatest desperation
You see a glimmer in the distance
A mirage perhaps - but you have no choice
You find the strength to walk to it
It is a spring
Fresh, cool, crystal clear water
Bubbling up out of the ground
You drink and are replenished
You wander out into the desert
And soon you are consumed by thirst again
You have forgotten that there is an answer
You search for anything that resembles that life-giving Source
You remain thirsty
And suddenly you remember the spring
You go to it and replenish yourself
And again you wander out into the desert
And the pattern is repeated
But you start to spend less and less time in the wilderness
You do not wander so far from the spring
You sense its presence always and return quickly
And the desert seems to recede into the distance
And so you realise the truth
You are not separate from the spring
You are the spring
And the desert is your illusion
The Matrix Got It Wrong
You don’t wake up from a blissful dream
and find yourself thrust into
a post apocalyptic world,
you wake up from a nightmarish illusion
and find you are one
with the wonder and beauty
of reality.
Let’s Play
Let us play a game together
Imagine
That you are loved beyond all measure
That you are accepted just as you are
That all you regret is erased
That all you fear will not happen
That you will never lose anything that matters
Not even ‘your life’
How does that make you feel?
Soon the mind says
“This is just a game, none of this is real”
Notice the thought come and go
What is the reality of that thought -
beyond a string of words appearing in your mind
Here now and then gone
“So what, my problems are real”
Let’s see
​
All you can see in this moment - that is real
All you can hear in this moment - that is real
All you can touch in this moment - that is real
​
And there is something else, something more fundamental
The awareness that you are - that is Real
Where are the things you regret?
Where are the things you fear?
Can you see them, hear them, touch them?
What is real and what is imagined?
Which game do you choose, in this moment?
Let’s play
Who?
Who is it behind the eye, that
silent in the morning air
welcomes the first rays of light, which
kiss the earth and gently birth
the colours of the day?
Who hears clear the whistle trill
of blackbird, robin, thrush and lark
in sweet cacophony of sound
as nature stirs from nightly calm
and bids the world to play?
Who, laid out on grassy bank,
sinks deep into the softened ground
and blade to cheek in emerald berth,
clover bespeckled, closely met,
feels held in warm embrace?
Who with clarity of mind,
unfettered, open, awed and still,
conjures into beingness
from dreamlike faint imaginings
new beauty born of space?
​
Who is it but you and I, that
in perceiving forms the sight.
We are the vessels of creation
and the makers of our worlds;
consciousness incarnate.
MeYou
What I do for you I do for me
in cosmic reciprocity, for though
fashioned by the veil of mind
and scale, we find the other -
homo sapiens, the name of this
particular set of so-called matter -
the line is thin that marks us two
and melts away in quantum dance
from atom, quark, and so beyond
till naught remains of me and you.
So when the chatter of difference is done
and minds are still to see the whole,
our momentary lone expressions
are but ripples on the surface;
​
I take your hand and take my own,
and bound together as life, enthralled
we give and so receive the same,
for all is one and one is all.
This Moment
Let go of the future
Let go of the past
Be here in this moment
Feel freedom at last
Give up all the worry
Give up the regret
Be clear in this moment
Forgive and forget
Cut loose from the chatter
Cut loose from the storm
Be still in this moment
In spirit and form
Give in to the isness
Give in to the whole
Be held in this moment
Surrender control
​
Rise up in the darkness
Rise up through the night
Be one with this moment
Be one with the light
Know peace is within you
Know love is your core
Just be in this moment
And see how you soar
Look Inside
Look inside the depths of your being
and prise out what lies embedded in mind,
now lying deep, though felt with each stride -
the knife sharp splinters of moments unseeing,
and, with the needle of your conscious eye,
peel back the layers that hold them in place -
in pretence of care and keeping you safe;
burn up the callouses of years gone by.
Steel yourself friend, let courage fill your heart
and flow to your bones, though they tremble and shake -
remain as the witness, silent and awake,
for the truth is you were born to this task,
yes indeed! I say fight for your freedom,
press on, do not sway from the cause,
and with Truth as your reason, reaffirm what is yours
until all of your being is won.
Swift Song
Flying in the face of gravity
I feel their freedom, held aloft
in ever changing winds that
dance about these ancient hills -
a shadow river seen and lost
in moments of a blinking eye -
and soaring up through ink white mists
burst through the surface, turn and dive
as far below a tapestry of
Rift hued threads stretch out
across the open plain, once hidden,
now revealed in golden sunlight.