here…locate!

the trout run is early this year.

the taste of autumn in the air.

all too beautiful for words.

but words will have to do, as long as we leave enough space in between them for the air to speak.

the Ganaraska River is filled with trout swimming upstream, making their way from Lake Ontario, up through town, over the rocks, past the fisherman.  impasse after impasse, there’s no stopping them.

come on they say,

come,

get to the task.

the way is straight and narrow.

come:

find infinity

^^^^^^^^

i love this poem by Godfrey John:

Locate!

(Isaiah 54:2; Judges 18:10)

Where?

Here!

Friend, look close:

beneath your feet

is holy ground.

Under all questions

the heart longs

for a people, a place

in the morning light.

Where?

Here!

Look again:

place is community,

is one

whatever lies bright

in each of us.

Now under your hand

a purpose springs.

For place is prayer

in the wilderness.

As you walk the wastes

anywhere,

Love wills in you a sweet land . . .

let love go out of you left and right;

let each secret prayer embrace

the people in you, the desolate.

Place is the practice:

here locate!

*Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes…Isaiah 54:2

*When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. Judges 18:10

“how to be alone…”

i loved this video by filmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis called: how to be alone. (click highlighted link to see video.)

there’s such a gentle grace and joy about it: the naturalness of embracing our lives, feeling at home wherever we are, the essence of peace, prayer and praise altogether. Here are some excerpts from the poem:

“If you are at first lonely, be patient.

If you’ve not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren’t okay with it, then just wait. You’ll find it’s fine to be alone once you’re embracing it.

Society is afraid of alone though. Like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements. Like people must have problems if after awhile nobody is dating them.

But lonely is a freedom that breathes easy and weightless, and lonely is healing if you make it.

Take silence and respect it.

You could be in an instant surrounded if you need it.”

o…to cultivate the rich spaces of aloneness

the sweeping music of silence

voids giving way to a rush of peace

this passage from Mary Baker Eddy’s writings speaks to it: “My sense of nature’s rich glooms is, that loneness lacks but one charm to make it half divine — a friend, with whom to whisper, “Solitude is sweet.”

all roads lead …

every road leads home.

every road leads to God.

every road

every single road

byway

highway

desert path

mountain cliff

back alley

finds you with yourself

finds you in the hands of God

finds you running towards

running from

trying to find

all the things

you have

home

here

you

found

inescapable

grandeur

breathtaking

distinctability

you

home

inner trails

of  truth,

beacons,

inklings,

reminders,

yes

no…

the simple windswept quiet of your heart

your path prepared

unfurling

home:

all that is natural

logical

pristinely

you

” Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21

“Into His haven of Soul there enters no element of earth to cast out angels, to silence the right intuition which guides you safely home.” Mary Baker Eddy

flying into morning light…

it isn’t Saturday yet, but i couldn’t resist posting this poem now. it’s by Fonda Bell Miller published in The Christian Science Monitor

To Do List for Saturday

Do laundry
Vacuum the house
Go for a walk
Find a dragon’s tooth
Use it to write in river sand
Slay the demons of dailiness
Climb a magnolia tree
Wait for the stars to appear
Wash in moonlight
Choose a perfect blossom
Curl up in it and sleep
Wake with wings unfolding
Join a flock of passing birds
Fly into morning light

to “slay the demons of dailiness.” how fantastic is that? makes me think of a favorite quote by M.B. Eddy: “Today my soul can only sing and soar.” today, saturday, every day.

summoned to joy …

immaculate moment this

ripe,

immediacy poised

uncluttered forgiveness

clean

wonder-imbued

air, sky, all

reverberate

welcome

welcome

your sweet

imminent

foreverness.

^~^~^~^~^~^

this poem by Doris Peel so captures it:

Summoned by Psaltery, Timbrel, and Harp

It is not said

that mourning shall be turned into non-mourning:

a cessation of suffering, a merciful blank

like the aftermath of a crisis passed.

Nor is there promised

the prolonged privileges of a convalescent

who earns–by the mere feat of survival–the

flowers, the fruit, the ministrations of others.

For behold

it is dancing–

dancing–we are called to!

O summoned we are

(from the darkest depths)

to that act of gladness

that elated leap

even the new lamb, come to earth, straightway knows

how to perform: bounding up on stiff little legs

with no more reason for what it does

than the very joy,

still fresh in it,

of being–unhistoried–

what it is.

“Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.” Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health

“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it.” Ecclesiastes

lifting life…

this poem by e.e. cummings came tucked in an email from my mom this morning:

may i be gay

like every lark

who lifts his life

from all the dark

who wings his why

beyond because

and sings an if

of day to yes

the perfect poem for a perfect morning…the air clear and cool, the sky a drunken blue.

ahh…indeed,

to lift our lives from the dark…

to wing our whys…

beyond because…

to sing, to sing,

yes,

to sing,

right past the ifs,

to yes.

yes,

yes, yes, and

o yes.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” Psalms 24

“Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy

“God has not given us vast learning to solve all the problems, or unfailing wisdom to direct all the wanderings of our brothers’ lives; but He has given to every one of us the power to be spiritual, and by our spirituality to lift and enlarge and enlighten the lives we touch.” Phillips Brooks