Searching

With nothing to guide me
but the star at my back....
I set my course for away.

Whispering prayers of longing and release,
I grasp the cool air, breathe it deep....
view it transformed into the essence
of what I can become.

The sword at my side glints wickedly
mirroring the smile of he who awaits....
and the jewelled hilt brings back a memory
of blue eyes, both deep and serene.

Driving for the forest....refusing to ponder
what dangers may lay ahead....
leaves blown from my path
as though a zephyr passes through
and one foot follows the other
in an intricate dance of mystery and invitation.

The star behind is now hidden...
vanished behind the blackness of tall trunks.
Wandering blind
I search still.

DLD/31AUG07

Listening to: End of the Road (Kim Waters), on iTunes SKY.FM Absolutely Smooth Jazz.
Celebrating: Five more weeks of summer break. Classes begin on Oct 8th. :)

Caught

Caught
within a swirling maelstrom
feet lifted from sea bottom
while my spirit yet sinks....
I struggle to regain my footing
but am swept away over and over again.
Recovery seems torn
from my grasp.

Shall I surrender to the waves....?
give in to the urge to
breathe deeply....
fill my lungs with salty remembrances
of past disappointments....
Shall I sink into memories....?
resist the pull of the future....
or refuse the tides that call me home.

DLD/27AUG07

Stardust

To be born within stardust
Afar from the shackles that bind us here....
Can we be born again, on the far side of the universe?
And still continue our earthbound journey?
At once?

If this is possible,
I shall send my wings skyward
.....now.....
I shall pry thy fingers from my ankles
.....now.....
I shall lift thee from thy knees and take thee with me
.....now....
and we will travel there
as one,
floating high over this
troubled world....

I will wipe the worries from thy brow.
I will capture thy spirit within mine own.
I will hold thy heart in the palm of my hand
and whisper words of grace.

If this is possible,
then I wish it for all.

DLD/26AUG07

Listening to: Everybody Hurts (REM)
Planning: A day of utter laziness. The paperwork can wait.

The Stream

I walk by the stream of my future.

Too many choices, it seems,
tangled within filaments of intention...
I am led astray....
lost in possibilities.

Adrift, afloat...
vanished into a watery place,
the motion, the warmth,
soothes and comforts...

Submission.
Calmness prevails.
The struggle ends.
Consciousness is lost.

Shall I perish for want of finding
the one path....
the many paths...
that may lead me to the one that I can become.

Suddenly...
a voice....a hand....
gasping....grasping....

I emerge
whole.

* * * * *

Returning from the abyss
I follow the voice....unsure....
Dost thou await me here?

There are too many pieces
from which to build....to create....to become....
I collect them as I follow the voice beyond,
gathering them within the folds of my cloak,
but the puzzle is scattered to the winds...
and I can hear the laughter of the stars,
a sound as of dangling crystals
gently jostled in a summer's breeze.

For they alone see that we are already
selves fully born,
fully become as we are.
No further embellishment
is needed.

Is not thy courage strong?
Is not thy vision clear?
Is not thy heart pure?

Such are the lessons
that have brought us
here.

DLD/18JUL07

miscellaneous snippets

Shall we be reborn
in an instant's reckoning?
Living beyond boundaries
both physical and temporal....

I dreamt once
of a young woman
who drew water from a wooden sluice.
Her burdens were many and her pleasures few.
As she aged,
her hands twisted and knotted
with unexpressed grief and anger,
and she laid on her deathbed,
with her family gathered 'round.

I dreamt once
of a young man
who overlooked the labours of many.
He strove to see the good in all,
yet witnessed a murder
that confronted him
with the reality of evil.
His life ended in fear and despair
as the wicked exacted their revenge.

These are only two
of those who comprise
the whole of me.

And all those who surrounded the woman and the man
in their separate lives and times
surround me still.

* * * * *

Broken, whole
Ebb and flow
Evil, good
Darkness to light
Happiness and grief...

All these define the edges
of our reality....
and we dance within the confines,
creating a lyrical web of complex threads
leading backwards and forwards,
and connecting us to...
all.

Is it an endless journey without reprieve?
I know not the answers nor the purpose,
yet I trust that all will come clear
in time.

I search for clarity, wisdom, peace....
I tread lightly through the forest.
I feel the wind at my back, pushing me ever forwards,
to a future both unknown and unknowable.

I rejoice in the beauty of all
and I dream beyond.

DLD/13JUL07

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

Rest Now

I shall watch quietly as sleep takes you....
The troubles of today and yesterday
fall gently away, leaving nothing but....

Peace.

Slumber within the drifting magic.
Neither strength nor fragility
matters here.

In this land,
the smallest, unarmed, can stand toe to toe
and defeat the giant with his plundering bow.

In this land,
dragons and unicorns grant wishes divine,
and wise men and fools together will dine.

It is in this land,
that all thy answers are wrought.
Be at peace....for here lies freedom from thought.

Interweavings of dreams
Entangled in your sleepy brow...
There are no worries here.
Rest now.

DLD/29APR07

We Are One

Forever one are we...
Truthfully.

Yet we are only as grains of sand
blown by the wind upon a distant shore....
Our spirits glittering and swirling
within a cosmic mist....
Breathtaking in our complexity
yet astonishingly simple.

Dancing and turning
in a quantum blackness,
separating and merging
in a blinding flash of white....
Deep chasms divide us,
yet we are eternally connected
in our utter sameness.

Singular,
yet wholly together.

DLD/29APR07

Destiny

What can we know of destiny?

Does thy destiny lie balanced
in the hands of the gods,
or within thy soul?

Choices presented....
options offered...
and they watch....
confer....nod sagely....
perhaps argue vehemently
over the necessary consequences
of our decisions and our intentions.

Or does destiny lie within the palm of thy hand?
Look carefully. What do you see?

A glittering microcosm of possibilities
within a universe made small.
Every person counts.
Every action counts.
Every word counts.

The difference that can be made
from the sweat of your brow,
from your advocacy for one who cannot (or dare not) speak,
from a sip of water to a thirsty man,
that gives him the strength
for one more hour's work
and one more hour's pay
with which to feed his family.

The galaxy represented in a
microscopic pearlescent bead.

Choose wisely.

DLD/29APR07