I will meet you there !

Beyond the pale human definitions of right and wrong...
Behind the usual ordinary of what is seen and what is sung,
There is a garden....
I will meet you there

When time stops and silence is the only sound that thunders,
in that space beyond all human tragic, manic... blunders....
There is simple cove...
I will listen for your coming.... there

Where all the road maps end, and kings and queens of only single moments lie,
When all the thoughts and desires are quelled by our collective contented heart’s sigh,
There grows a lily....
and I will wait for you there

There, in the mountains and in the valleys, where only children play,
There, where the rivers are made of laughter and all the oceans cannot hold the towering waves of love at bay,
Within the trueness of that world....
Surely....I will find you..... there

After all the secret wounds have lost their power...and we have voiced all that could be spoken,
After all the deeds we thought must be done....lie discarded....their fragility broken,
Under the spreading arms of a wind swept cedar.....
I will rest with you, there
there.... my friend.....there
I will meet you, there
Carolyn Jackson 4/22/14

The GUEST

Heaven is not an empty promise of priests and oracles,
The palace of Divinity is not the man made magnificence of ancient cathedrals
The “word” was never written in any archaic language, changed from book to book
its significance lost to those who hunger to know, those whose eyes are not too blind,  to look

Wisdom is not learned through the efforts of scholars,
Mercy displayed  in the stiffness of starched clerical collars…
Charity does not live in the empty halls of big business….
its amount free from taxable interest…

Hope is not something preached from pulpits and podiums,
offered to starving people, with grandiose promises,
Clarity is not gained by wearing glasses,
not an object to be sold to empty handed masses….

Love is not a quality that can be  limited by a calculating mind,
its virtues choked by the complications of that entangling vine…
Joy cannot be made to follow appropriate protocols,
limited by sanctimonious impossible laws….

A human heart contains them all,
A single breath, the power in its motion breaking through this constructed wall,
Of all that we were taught,
All that we thought, we fought, we forgot….
All of this….laid to rest,
In the presence of the “GUEST”

Learning to  Love

Love is not the beautiful reclining woman...as I was told...

It is not the superbly muscled man on horseback... I had been sold...

but an invisible, permeating presence,

a shimmering mass of light filled particles,  making up my very essence.....

and I have said, in my own ignorance....

oh no, not me...not them...

Undeserving people, undeserving me..

but love did not listen to the whispers of my mind

instead,

simply,

loved me anyway...

and when I tripped, fell into its currents

somewhat reluctantly, allowing myself to be taken by it...

all that I ever thought I knew

about love...

drowned...

in its generosity

I began to realize that...

I had inadvertently entered its doorways

shyly peeked down its shimmering hallways...

and fallen in love,

with LOVE itself......

More bravely, then....

I have...

undertaken to explore its pathways

more boldly, begun to climb the heights of its stairways...

and in this time....

it has welcomed me,

in its kindness....helped me,

to fly.....

high..--

without so much fear of falling....

balancing still somewhat tentatively,  on the tips of its gossamer wings

it is,

to my surprise....

delighting in my company......

The Choice

The Choice

Long ago, I left the safety of the water,

fell deaf to the wisdom of my father,

discarded the sweet kisses of my lover,

and turned away from the comradeship of my brother

To wade and search upon life's murky shorelines,

called to by hawkers with neon flashing billboard signs,

drawn to their gaudy veiled booths full of choices,

intrigued by the sound of their brash laughter and noisy too loud voices

I have indeed begged there at those merchant stalls,

taken in by the sound of those hollow calls,

for a drop of love,

to fill my empty heart

for a crumb of truth

some intangible sustenance

to satisfy

the hunger of

my starving soul

And I received,

and often believed,

their plastic promises

spoken with sarcastic false omnipotence

I did drink of the bitter "healing" potions,

disguise myself in their perfumed lotions,

and I was ever as empty 

as I was before

Until, I felt the softest lulling,

of a gently river calling

the invitation

whispered invocation

to know

of what lay behind my breath

the power of this beating heart within my breast

I fell into the dampness of its love filled currents

felt them flowing 'round me

moving thru me

coming from me

the might

the height

of their massive breaking waves of joy

and it was...like that,

without a look back

I left the emptiness of that shore

and prayed to see it nevermore

For the river pulled me closer,

pulled me within itself ....deeper

as if to answer my desire with its own need

to hold my heart...my soul....indeed

with its peaceful flowing deliberation,

and infinitely patient concentration

it made its way, carrying me

into the great arms of this loving sea

Saving Secret Diamonds

We could all stay veiled with our sweet secrets..... made of gold

We can stash our precious diamonds in the deepest recesses of our hidden soul....

And think, ah yes....in this I am safe....and sound...

While the rest of humanity cries....

We can remain....alive with possibility....

but without sharing....

without telling....

holding hostage.....

all that we have realized....

While someone else tries......

We could be given, all that can ever be given....

reside in the greatest generosity....

be shown the ultimate compassion....

and keep it all....to ourselves.....inside...

Watch in silence as the brilliance of our flame dies.....

We could live, without knowing....the indestructible power...

of the miracle of our own courage...

the brilliant grace ......of our diamonds showing...

if we dared to take them out of our inner bags....

and held them up for all to see....

We could be taken by the whirlwinds....freed... as our own fire flies...

The Most Important Choice We Will Ever Make

What if each person on the face of this earth was taught a simple thing.....

to spend each day in Gratitude

What if every man, woman and child stopped raising their voices in shouts of injustice....

and instead began to sing.... the song of beauty....

What if every person understood...

that their life is precious and refused to waste it?

What if all the nameless things which live in the darkness of our minds...

were dissolved in the ocean of love, which resides in our hearts?

What if the sadness and confusion of humanity...

were surrendered to the understanding of its joy?

What if we, human beings, stood up and said “Enough !”

to the illusion of separation and chose instead to celebrate compassion?

What if all of us, every one, stopped listening to the deadened voices of so much agenda....

and began to hear the sweet melody, composed in every moment of being?

What if we refused our close association with greed and destruction,

and chose as our companions.....clarity and wisdom?

What if we refused to judge and hate each other,

became a society of peace and of tolerance ?

What if we stopping closing our eyes to beauty,

and relearned our birthright of appreciation?

What if we broke the chains of all that we have so far, been taught, and took back our freedom?

To choose those thoughts and actions that are mandated not by governments but by the humanity of our hearts ?

What if we took back our power?

And aligned ourselves with TRUTH?

What if we knew....

that these are choices, that we are capable of making?

What if we understood....

that this is indeed.....the most important choice that we will ever make?

Poem by Carolyn Jackson

Artwork by Gary Bandzmer - Boddi Design

Miracles of Living

Miracles of Living

Within my own soul,

I have heard a calling....

of the soundless voices of music, beckoning

within my own heart,

I have felt an awakening....

of such a  force of love, breaking

within my own mind,

I have known  powerful teaching.....

from wisdom's wordless silent being

from my own hands,

I have felt the touch of healing....

of transformation reshaping

in my own visions,

I have seen the lights of heaven beaming...

of the presence of infinity, weaving

And in my life,

I do know the miracle of being.....

in the gratitude that lives in this state of being