miscellaneous snippets

Occasionally, of an evening, I exchange poetry with a friend halfway around the world, in the nature of a poetic conversation. Here's my half of tonight's offerings... The asterisks indicate where his responses intervene. You're only getting half the conversation...for this I apologize, but all the words reprinted below are mine.

* * * * *

Within
lie all the seeds of the future
mixed amongst the remnants of the past....

Yet if time is subjective and irrelevant,
then how does it all fit?

Perhaps there is no progression
no forward movement
no growth....

but only
being.

* * * * *

Being
is the essence
of all.

We are one and the same,
joined yet separate.
We are here always
and never.

Knowledge is as close as our fingertips,
and as distant as the stars....
as vast as all the galaxies that have ever existed
(never existed)
yet abides forever and entirely complete...
in the petal of a rose,
the wisp of a breeze,
a child's giggle,
a grain of sand.

It is all there for you.
Reach out and ask.
It shall be yours.

Time
in all its manifestations
cannot erase
the experience of
being.

Being is all.

* * * * *

Examining too closely
makes us blind to the larger truths
and immune to the beauty of the whole.

Shall we ever remember
the magic that has brought us
in reverence and humility
to this sacred place where we sit
amongst the confusion,
watching the world go by,
and wondering why.

It is a calmness within the storm
of man's inhumanity....
to his fellow man
to the planet
to the universe
....to himself....

It is an oasis.
Invite others to drink.
Share this space in spirit and in soul,
and you shall be renewed as well.

It is a place
to experience
hope.

* * * * *

Open to all is the goal....
Open to learning,
Open to acceptance,
Open to knowledge,
Open to humanity,
Open to love
and life.

Yet in remaining open
we expose our soft underbelly
to those who would wish us harm.
For evil walks the earth in frightful disguise.

Brothers killing brothers.
The innocent perish,
and the evil care not.
All of humanity should weep
for such atrocities.

Hatred and despair are the rivers
that threaten to consume,
yet we must not allow these waters
to overtake us.

Neglect of soul and spirit.
The scourge of the modern world.
How shall we overcome?

Perseverance.

We are few in number,
but strong in desire,
and our message is powerful
beyond the imaginings
of all time.

Yet I wonder...
Will it be enough?

* * * * *

Sacrifice

I give myself up
to the power of
She who understands.

I find comfort and strength
where mine enemies seek it not....
amongst trees and meadows and
gently flowing streams....
amongst starshine and moonglow
and the wisdom of the universe....
and within the knowledge that old souls
(whoever they are and wherever they may be)
surround and protect me
with brotherhood and solidarity.

I sense the disappearance of our innocence
amongst the bombs and the destruction and the explosions and the hatred.
Yet we are safe within the oasis
that reminds me of lost loves
that are not lost at all.

How can they be lost,
when in truth they have been found?

They are ever-present....
in the flight of a thousand butterflies,
in the scent of the salt spray,
in the touch of a gentle breeze upon my skin,
in the forest shadows that I treasure,
in the paths that lead me forward.

This is from whence
my true self arises.
None can follow here
but truth.

* * * * *

DLD/05JUL07