April 16, 2020: Vitality in the Ebb and Flow of Thought

Vitality in the Ebb and Flow of Thought

I’m seeking to reach a new synergy.

I want to make the Garden to grow,

But I’m appalled by how my energy

Seems so much to ebb and to flow;

How I forget the things that I know.

My mind is swaying in the winds of the world,

Pervasive, mysterious - that world keeps me humble!

I recall my ideals:  Will their promise unfurl?

Whether jet or thunder, I hear a rumble.

Like waves, my own thoughts sway and tumble.

They start off subtle, like a gentle breeze

That wafts a profusion of scents.

I hear them rustle the leaves of the trees,

And I’m not sure about what is meant.

Are they of seas, or the firmament?

So I seek to confirm my sense of connection

To the life I must live, and the Spirit,

Without knowing the reason, I change direction,

And I hardly seem to get near it.

It has music, and I so want to hear it!

And then, I’ll be seized by an inspiration

That swirls like a sudden gust:

A life-changing vision, for consideration –

Is it an impulse that I can trust

Or only a moment of bluster?

So where does it come from, and where does it go:

Our creative force and vitality?

Can we ever be sure how the winds will blow,

To support or affront our humanity;

To heighten and threaten our sanity?

It enables me to set my own sails,

And tack wherever I choose.

My resolve might falter, but the urge that prevails

Is the one I’ve got to use,

Even when there’s much to lose!

Just as winds also might carry the rain,

And dissipate the pollen,

And catch into a windmill’s vanes,

Or set the surf a’ rollin’

Or raise up a kite that was fallin’ . . .,

They may also carry a thunderstorm,

Or commence a change in the season.

It may stir up a fire.  It may flatten the corn.

Though balance is always the reason,

At that point, it isn’t just teasin’!

We seek to maintain our composure,

While striving to do what we will,

Awed when Life makes Its disclosure;

In sorrow at what falls, unfulfilled,

And yearning when the wind is still.

Will we ever end our inner resentment?

Will our balance be restored?

Will we ever find our contentment -

Beyond ideas of what we can afford -

In the wind from the wings of the Lord?

Will we ever attain the grace to accept

Our lot, though we seek many things,

And while we don’t know the steps to be truly adept

We draw vision from poets and kings,

And our souls are flapping their wings!

April 15, 2020: Musician, Carving a Path

Musician, Carving A Path

We like to get together

To sing the old, familiar songs,

Believing that’s the way

We get along,

And sometimes, if we’re clever,

We’ll make up a different version.

It’s not so much what we need to say;

We only need  a diversion!

Sometimes we’ll endure an original

By one who likes to perform,

Who knows that the path to personal power

Is to go beyond the norm,

And even beyond what is cynical,

To some place we’re not sure we’ve been:

A new rhythm in which our love can flow;

Once, an unpredictable spin!

Chorus:

And then someone else might take it on,

And it acquires a familiar ring;

It might not be traditional,

But it’s something that we want to sing!

It opens up a new conception

That hasn’t been sung before;

That inspires yet another original;

That reminds us what we’re singing for!

That newness don’t have to be intricate;

Quite often, it’s simple and slow.

The singer will do whatever it takes

To lead us where he wants to go!

And it’s not necessarily intimate.

Sometimes it’s hard like a stone,

But its got an energy keeps us awake

And comforts us when we’re alone.

It’s like carving a path through rocky hills

To a place at the other side.

You can’t cut directly through:

It’s too simple just to decide!

The trick is to balance conflicting wills,

Like winding around a slope

So the goal is reached most simply and true,

In the realms of our common hope.

Chorus

Once again, we get together

To sing the new familiar songs.

We move with them,

And they help our bonds to grow strong!

And  sometimes it just makes us feel better

To sing a tune from out of the past:

A melody that still remains to remind

Us of the mem’ries we’re wanting to last.

April 14, 2020: My Invitation

My Invitation

Your open heart can still look at me

And think I’ve got it all wrong.

Did I paint myself into this wrong place to be,

Not knowing how to get along?

You see my strength and ability.

You’re not sure I’m very much fun.

You doubt I retain that agility

To walk on the paths where you run.

Too far out of step; too close out of place:  

Should I hang my head in shame?

A fool in every matter of taste,

Who’s bewildered by the game.

You might think that I’m just not enlightened,

And advise me like a younger brother.

Could it be we’re both just a little in doubt

Of peculiar friends we discover?

Chorus:

Do I look like you?  Do I look real strange?

I think that’s the way of creation.

I hear what you’re saying and I want to exchange

What we see in our situation!

The world is changing.  We all have to change

To reach out for our own salvation.

So many pieces remain to arrange.

Still, I offer my invitation.

You might find that I nurture a life you can lead

Beyond patterns that were just a disguise.

I might become someone you actually need.  

You might see me through different eyes.

I might open up the world to you.  

You might show me a whole new vision.

We might find a new balance in what is true.  

We might rise to a new decision.

So I sing you this song in self-confidence

Even if you think I’m crazy

To think in my lonely innocence

That you could be my lady,

Exploring dreams and exotic places,

Engaged in this world’s liberation,

Immersed in the magic of many embraces;

Building with imagination!

Chorus

April 13, 2020: Interpreting Nature

Interpreting Nature

What are its dangers? How can we be protected?

What are its problems?  How can they be corrected?

What are its uses?  The practical potential?

What are its gifts?  Are they in any way essential?

What are its meanings?  Is there something metaphorical?

What are its beginnings?  Its development historical?

What are its patterns from a viewpoint academic;

How it functions in itself, or in ways that are systemic?

What is its value, from the view of conservation?

What would it be saying, could it join the conversation?

It all seems like a jumble, but I’m trying to make clear

On why this thing I’m looking at happens to be here!

April 12, 2020: Go to Hell!

Go To Hell

Jesus went to hell,

But you! . . . dear sister,

And you! . . . loving brother –

You’ve never made that journey.

You haven’t got the scars to prove it,

And no, you haven’t got a lot to say!

You might have felt its fringes,

And the terror of its magnetism.

You may have stood by the edge of the ledge

That crumbled to the boiling sea.

You may have heard

The laughing bones in the dry desert.

You may have seen

Insult adding to oppression;

The collector of miseries filling his load

And indifference shitting on its own floor

(Things even newsmen would rather ignore!)

You may have felt the unspeakable truth engulfing you,

But you’ve never passed all the way

Into the place of uttered absurdity

‘til you have nothing, nothing to say!

Don’t let your well-tied and untried wisdom fool you,

Because its knot is around your own neck!

Go down your own dark hallway

And enter the forbidden door

With the key which Christ has given you.

Break down your final barrier into madness, my friend,

And then come back and tell me what you know!

April 11, 2020: Spindle for a Globe

Spindle for A Globe

I found a spindle that held a globe.

It looked eerily like a scythe.

The angel of death has us in his hold

As we take this earthly ride,

And while this world continues to spin;

As it curves around the bend . . .

Just when we think it’s time to begin,

It’s coming to an end!

But all I have now is the spindle,

And I don’t know where the globe has gone,

And with that, my hope is re-kindled,

Because the earth keeps rolling on.

Our mortality has all of us caught.

We can’t keep what we hold in our minds,

But it hasn’t taken away the thought

There is something yet to find!

April 10, 2020: Reflections on the Meaning of God

Reflections on the Meaning of God

I see God as a super-consciousness;

That’s  living beyond the brain;

Transcending this sense of separateness,

Born of weariness, need, and pain.

I see God though my own reflectiveness

About nature, science, and history;

Parables serving to build connections,

Though God Itself is a mystery.

I see God as a powerful metaphor

For the things that we would emulate.

Is it just an idea, or something more;

Something beyond what we think or create?

I see God in the occurrences

Of things that we cannot explain.

I see God in various social currents

For releasing old sorrows and shame.

I see God in hymns and scriptures,

And accounts of saints and mystics.

In group reflections, their meanings grow richer;

Their teachings more realistic.

I see God in the forms of music and art,

And the impulse to seek what is just.

I see God in the love of a merciful heart

Who serves as he feels that he must.

I see God though my own reflectiveness

About nature, science, and history;

Parables serving to build connections,

Though God Itself is a mystery.

I see God in hymns and scriptures,

And accounts of saints and mystics.

In group reflections, their meanings grow richer,

Their teachings more realistic.

I see God as a powerful metaphor

For the things that we would emulate.

Is it just an idea, or something more;

Something beyond what we think or create?

I see God as a super-consciousness;

A power of  living beyond the brain;

Transforming this sense of separateness

Born of weariness, need, and pain.

I see God in the occurrences

Of things that we cannot explain.

I see God in various social currents

Releasing us all from our chains!

I see God in the form and I see God in the spark,

And the impulse to do what is just.

I see God as the Love in a merciful heart

Who serves as she feels that she must.