Sunday, April 3, 2016

I know your heart Carolyn Jackson 3/26/16


I know,
the secrets of your heart,
all the cobwebbed corners of it....
the passion and immense beat of it,
as....I know my own

I know the child within,
I know the woman who holds her
the mother who knows her....
as you do
because I am that mother,
as you are....

I know,
the embrace of a father,
the courage, the strength....
being offered to me,
as they are to you....
they are with me always...
as they are with you....


I know that same breath of peace,
that you know....
and the restless, surging, seeking of your soul...
I know as my own...
I know your freedom,
and I know your chains...
I know your dreams,
and your despair....
and I have your hope....


I know your sweetly warming smile,
and the wet salt of your tears...
I know the depths of your kindness,
and the ice of your cruelty....
I know your doubt,
and I know your certainty...
because I share the same capacity....
for these, as you do.....

I know your birth,
and I will know your death...
I live a life,
and will choose the story of it....
as you will....

despite what some would try to tell us,
despite the separation, so ignorantly being
pointed out to us....
despite the artificial differences,
which are said to be so insurmountable, between us....
I know your heart,
I know it,
as my own...
















Sunday, February 21, 2016

Love Each Other Like That


Does the sun only shine for some?
Does it bestow its warmth only on one chosen  kingdom....

Does the moon only rise for the few?
Line us all up in some ridiculous, you must take turns,
queue?.....

Do the tides only run for those with a certain caste or color to their skin?
or do they caress them all, not caring who or what they've been....

Does the air choose, who will breathe?
selecting from among us who to sustain and who to leave....

Do the leaves and the fruits of the trees  only grow for people with means?
distribute their wealth only in manicured gardens...with perfect seams..

Do the stars only collide and burn and birth for only those who know..
saving only for those who claim consciousness their brilliant glow?

Is love measured out only in small quoted amounts
settling the deserving into neat columned accounts?

WE do not deserve,
nor are we owed....
this immaculate kind of  LOVE,
which gives of itself,
beyond question or doubt...
without judgement,
with no reserve,
and with no limit,
unconditionally,
and with unerring EQUALITY

and maybe some day
some time
when we watch...
the sun, the moon....
the trees, the streams, the wind....
we too will learn to love
each other...
like this.....












Friday, February 5, 2016

This is MY life and I will LIVE it !



And I will take as my lover,
LOVE itself
And I will have as my comforter,
SERENITY.....

I will arm myself,
with STRENGTH and with BEAUTY
and defend myself with PEACE

I will have as my partner,
COMPASSION
I will walk hand in hand with UNDERSTANDING....

I will take as my playmate JOY.....
place my heart in CONTENTMENT.....

I will have as my dear companion, UNDERSTANDING
my closest friend, CLARITY.....

I will nourish my soul, my body, my mind 
with ALL that is dear to me.....with ALL that  FULFILLS me.....

THIS is my choice....
and I will make IT

THIS is my chance...,
and I will take IT

THIS is MY life,
and I will LIVE it !






Friday, January 29, 2016

An Old Woman and a New Day

And she arose,
naked in her ancient beauty...
she stretched and crossed the room,
barefoot on the stones...

She blew a single breath,
on the snowflake frosted window...
rubbed with the hardness,
of a calloused thumb.....

To see, the wonder of a day begin...
a night, to fade away...
and as the light of that birthing sun,
rose and warmed the window pane....

So, did her spirit rise...to greet it...
to meet the new chance of it...
one more day,
with untold surprises....
myriad disguises...
to unfold itself at her feet....

one pure bright canvas,
offering itself only and completely to her...
to paint what she would,
with all that she could...

shadows of pain,
dancers of pleasure,
embraces in wonder...
every conceivable adventure ...
all awaited the colors of her brush.....

She drew in that chance,
with a bold breath...
lifted her arms....
and began to paint....
with passion, tears, joy, gratitude and oh, so much more...
her brush threw itself  across the canvas....
to enjoy that one more day !

 

Monday, January 25, 2016

A woman

A Woman


She is.... the cycles of moon time,
the rise of the tide....
the nurturer of innocence,
the memory of those who have died.....


the fires of Pele,
the winds of Shakti
race fiercely through her veins,
a wilderness creature, shunning bridle and reins...

her face shines.... high on the craggy mountains
and her voice cries out. in a thunder, which will not be tamed...
her finger tips on fire...
she is the lightning, which will not be blamed


She slips through moonlight,
to live in your dreams....
with.the fragility of  dew drops
she weaves the spider's web with cosmic seams


She consorts with warriors, emperors and kings...

holds beggars to her breast...
strips bare  liars....
until .... naked...
they lie gently in her nest

Power becomes her...
Love defines her....
Patience wraps its arms around her...

KNOWLEDGE lives within her.....




Thursday, January 21, 2016

Volunteering at the Cancer Center

And a woman came in...
turban 'round her head,
her scalp in flames,
from her chemo,
no more hair.....
but a lot 'o joy adorned her face

Another walked in....
Dorita was her name,
big smile on her face,
plump as pillows,
her medication caused her to gain weight....
she was a stage 4, inoperable

Then another woman,
an amputee,
struggling for balance...
in her shiny ortho shoes,
chatting cheerfully,
thanking me profusely,
She had been given one year to live.....
her t shirt had one word written on it .....HOPE

And more and more,
they came through that door...
curious about what I had to offer...
what I had to share....

They sat and I sat...
my heart to theirs...
their heart to mine...
And the LOVE flowed....
and the miracles played....
And the BIG GUY showed....

Reality, my friends...
It is a TRIP

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Take the veil from my eyes

Take the veil from my eyes,
so that I may see through your disguise....

Beggars in feathers,
rich men in ties...
children remember,
the truth within lies...

Soldiers and demons,
saints and virgins...
all parade,
before my eyes....

But take the veil from my eyes,
and I will see through their disguise....

Underneath it all,
the guise and the glitter...
the mud and torn robes....
in the ruins of the gutter,
blooms the rose...

Wash the blackened painted faces..... enough,
and they turn brilliant once again...
innocence can not be stolen,
only hidden by the veil,
that I wish,
you would take from my eyes....

I'm not interested in your hate...
it gives  me such a belly ache....
I'd much rather hear of your loves...
that's the language I can appreciate !

I'm not interested in your dramas...
those ups and downs, round and rounds...
I'd much rather hear of your joys,
and skip with you through the lands of laughter....

I'm not interested in your plights,
your perceived wrongs and seldom rights....
I'd much rather hear of your defection,
to a place of fulfillment and acceptance...

I'm not interested in your coldness....
frigid feigned projections of radical injustice,
I'd much rather hear of your warmth....
the touching and the poignant feeling of your giving....

I'm not interested in your prided  armor...
your cerebral defenses and metal helmet,
I'd much rather hear of your openness...
your gaiety and wild abandon...
to love,
to joy,
to living,
to appreciating,
to gratitude for blessings..........

the power of Gratitude

the power of GRATITUDE...  so
absolutely understated,,,
Its ability to transform,
so terribly under rated....  my darling.... have you seen?

A windy dripping soaked wet day..
turn to sounds of raindrop music,
with the sighs and howls,
of branches, brilliance clapping....

A crowded hallway of swarming people,
turn to visions,
of humanity moving....
of the dance of their footsteps shuffling...
high heeled staccato, drumming...
fur boots, the cymbals swishing...

And, my love have you felt?

A lonely, dark night of mourning,
turn to quests of stillness longing...
answered by soft candle light flickering...
the presence of one's SELF becoming...
a tear, turned sparkling silver glowing....

All the while, GRATITUDE transforming,
would be sad, to seeds of knowing...
would be mad, to leaves of growing....
would be separation, to towering trees, their roots joining...

Yes, my love....
a single drop of GRATITUDE is unbelievably transforming....
the sweetest sip, so powerfully heart warming...
one small drop, so life changing....
THANK YOU!!!






the dance

the music
surrounds
low notes, high... mid range pulsing

passion overcomes,
my held back shyness
as I nod to you
and you speak to me

"would you like to dance/"
an unequivicable  YES
thunders up from my throat
and the twirls, and swirls,
of a dance,
begins....

If I think...
the music pauses...
and I drop into a thousand pieces....

BUT,

If I feel...
I am swept up,
carried high,
bent low,
spun, out of control....
with the heat of the rumba,
the swish of the swing...
the dip and the sway....
the turns and the spins,
of US
as we
glide,
weightless as feathers,
blown hither and yon,
by this symphony of sound...

I do wish to never end...
this dance of dances

I do wish to never,
think... again...






.





A splendid presence

In the darkness of deep night,
I feel a PRESENCE....
softly begun approaching,
tender, slow, advancing
accompanied by a faintest whisp of scent,
sweetly wafting....
a garden of gardenia,

the stillness of this deep night,
fills with PRESENCE.......
and the harp strings of my heart,
begin their playing....
the warmth of their surreal sound,
spreading....
filling....
every secret, sacred corner...
of my shadowed room...

Within the dark of this deep night,
I feel the PRESENCE,
like a fragile dawn awakening...
of a moon time sky retreating...
the darkness of this night receding...
making way for soft LIGHT coming....
Until it is neither day nor night...

dark or light......
Subtle glowing....
nether LIGHT...
of  PRESENCE,
filling,
calling,
and my falling,
into such an unknown longing,
heart strokes of  loving...
this supremely enticing...
PRESENCE
which steals,
the dark from my night....










But, love tastes good

LOVE feels good,
it's warm and fuzzy,
being wrapped all in cozy...

LOVE tastes good,
supremely delicious to my tongue buds
more succulent than wine
as it slips down my throat

LOVE's touch strong, so tender....
bringing goosebumps of pleasure,
as it massages down deep into my bones...

LOVE is free,
like breathing
sky high flying
down deep diving..
one of those sublime gifts of being...
if one can get past the terrors
of feeling...
or through the barbed wire of
intellectual preening...

it may well be the death of me...
and some have told me so....
but, I think.... it will be the death of
shackles and chains,
that would keep me imprisoned,
in the cold, dark cellars..
of my thinking...

I think it might burn to ashes,
my carefully constructed cage
of planned restraint,
that keep me
from feeling...

this sublimely, open, warm as
sunshine feeling.....
makes me LAUGH
at the absurdity in all of THAT





Sunday, January 10, 2016

day dreams of a Krishna nature

As the sun was pouring through,
a temporary blindness began to ensue....
My outer eyes blinded,
my inner eye blended....
into a Krishna like day dream...

And there he was...
a MAN..
with all his softness,
his strength and innocence...
his sparkling heart,
not held apart....

And there, they were...
the WOMEN...
with all their true gopi adoration....
lost in undeniable attraction...
hither to unknown to them..
this magnetic pulling...
between the divinity of HIS being...
and their own becoming...

In their human like endeavor,
they began to argue and maneuver...
But take ME they cried...
and pulled and tore....
to be nearer and nearer still...to his  side

HE did not placate to them...
nor join them in  their frantic wailing,
but instead he began to LAUGH
at their so human FAILINGS...
and to teach them...

BECOME your own DIVINITY....
he whispered into each pearl like crescent ear
and come PLAY with me, all my lovers dear...
And we will dance the ecstasy,
the POWER in your FEMININE...
with the POWER of my MASCULINE...
be the softening moon to my blinding sun,
the molding sea to my shifting shore...
the water bearer, to my desert canyons
the holding sheath to my cutting sword,
the resting place for all my actions,
the shape shifting  season changer,
the richness of the life bearer....
BE all of this and MORE
was his whispered invocation...
his healing  invitation...

and wasn't that quite a magnificent...
daylight dream ?
as the blinding sunlight closed my outer eyes,
and my inner eyes,
began to glow?











Sunday, January 3, 2016

In a New Year

I have known....
such a tender gardener.
Who has brought,
sunshine,
soft rain,
and rich soil
to my soul

I have known
such a sweet friend,
Who has cajoled
teased,
hugged,
and pulled me
into happiness

I have known
such a wonder of a lover,
whose eyes,
voice,
strength,
and purpose,
in loving me...
has brought me to my knees

I have known,
such a willing companion,
in adventure,
in the discovery,
of such beauty,
of so much clarity,
and found in myself,
bravery,
boldness,
kindness

And even in this unimaginable fulfillment...
I know there is so much more.....
and so on to a NEW YEAR !


Pearls of distraction

Pearls of Distractions

Pearls of distraction,
lie scattered at my feet
Once diamonds and scarlet rubies,
they became my fool's gold

I cast them aside,
as the truth of my being
began to unfold....
they became tarnished,
and rusted, belonging to the discard pile of OLD

Their once bright beauty,
had begun to choke me...
their value to hold me...
to that which was BEFORE

I felt the weight of their
past shadowed memories,
crumbled dust of photographs,
of other people's ideals
starving and sick on someone else's  meals
I BURNT them,
TORE them,
utterly DESTROYED them.....

FOR,
I belong to no man...
neither beast nor saint,
And,
I am naked in my OWN beauty...
FREE in my own heart...
TIME and breath, given and belonging only to MYSELF...
yes, those pearls of distraction,
they do lie,
scattered.....
dying at my feet....