hope

New Dawn

Photo by Taruna Patel

 

With the rise of a new dawn
And with January,  a new year
We look out to the horizon 
And set a few goals
 
Another twelve months
Granted and held
Imagining with promise 
Times full of both harmony and peace
 
With losses abundant
Restrictions innumerable 
Set-backs repeated 
And devastation rampant 
 
From the year twenty, twenty 
And profound lessons learnt
I trust we embark
On an entirely different tract
 
Whirl pooling around us 
Negativity has left few untouched
Time now for a one eighty 
With light and positivity
 
A warmth, an inclusion
With more meeting of the minds
For a prevailing clarity 
So the darkness can be expelled
 
Perhaps rather than goals
We need instead to reset
The vision of hope
With the return to a strength and unity.

The Marks of June

June you mark the middle
Of a year
That has everyone
In quiet the pickle.

The unpredictable,
The unprecedented,
The insurmountable,
The game changers.

All in one
They are happening,
The noise deafening
The footprints indelible.

Biological or social
Emotional or political,
The fight for survival
The core of the struggle.

With debates and protests
Even the riots,
How can we possibly
Claim any rest.

Feeling the injustice
The denial, the inequality
With deep woven roots,
Perpetuating the atrocities.

Even with fight
Guided by knowledge,
Changes still need
Clarity and quietness

To allow the most powerful
To rise,
To be felt
To be seen.

So how to find
In these dark times
The magic of love?
The peace of love?

It must be the only way
The ancient way.
So go within to the core
Ground and center.

Move with that one
Rhythmic flow
Never to judge
Only to bestow.

Life, opportunity
Abundance of choice.
Breath is this anchor
Breath is the answer.

What seems so insignificant
Holds all that is magnificent,
Delve deep, delve often
Keep company

Of the one companion.
So her treasures
Maybe realized
And your peace will unfold.

Shelter In Home


Comes natural to the hermit
Enforced on the convicted.
A sort of imprisonment
Intended to safe guard.

And today,
The likes of me and you
With access to the essentials
Water, food and light.
But little preparation
With unheeded forewarning,
The mind is unconditioned
The body unable to relax.

As sources of entertainment fade
The confines close in,
And the loss of freedoms
Begin to set in.

What is most amiss?
The face to face
To see and feel
To interact, to feel of significance.

At heart we are social.
Beings in need of beings.
So here lies opportunity
To reach out in solidarity.

Break free of the concepts,
Traits of greed and fear.
Evolve to enable
Humanity at its best.

Perhaps the greatest outcome
Is yet to be seen,
As from our strife and grief
We learn the truest meaning

Of the real ‘Shelter in Home’.
For you are the home
Where the grandest one
Chooses to reside.

So take the time now given,
To acquaint and befriend.
Meditate in your solace
On the place most neglected.

Uncover your buried gifts
Your allies, your strengths
Your inner peace and joys.

The key to this realm
Is to deflect and rebuke
The noise, the distractions
Of the exterior, the illusions.

With these layers
Of shelter in home,
Be kind
Be gracious
Be in gratitude.
For you are ‘home’
And in home
Of the greatest of arms.

MT

Give up!
Lay down!

Clamber the sounds,
Words, thoughts
Vibrations.

“Let the dark flood
Surround
Drown out
The very last speck
To feel the pain”

It lies and lies so well
The dark, there is no escape!
The dark speaks
Rages!
Eating away
Any glimmer of hope.

Yet fleeting rays
Tiny threads
A reach
A grasp, then a plunge

For dear dear life.
Head hardly above
The murky water of thoughts.

Slitting eyes sense a beam
Light carrying warmth,
Familiarity, union beyond this life.
Co-exist they cannot
Light and dark.

Yielding to the moment
The presence of a ticking time,
I find
I am
Still I am,

As the life carrying force
Brings me through
Dark to light…

Love into the Mirror

faceinthemirror

See the big deep eyes
Staring back at you?
The centered nose
Trying not to sniffle?
The pouty lips
Wanting not to give it all away?

Ever said,
“Cry its OK”
To that face in the mirror?

Standing apart from the form of myself
Separating from the pain
Allowing the play to unfold
I watch,
I acknowledge,
I comfort

Myself.

How?

By saying
To the face in the mirror

“I love you”

From deep within
Comes a Knowing
I am not my pain,
I am not my circumstances,
I am not the labels.

So I say, to the one
That no one else sees
And the one that looks right back into me,
I do
I do
I do love you!

Sunrise to Sunset…

image

Behold the promise of a new day
From the colors in the sky
Not a rainbow yet still quite an array.

Yellow, emerging with power
Orange to red passing passion and fire
Even dark blue is warm yet smoldering
As forced to retire by the glimmer of dawning.

Such are colors of life
Rich and in their turn take the stage.
Enjoy each hue
As the glows and shimmers, wax and wane
From life’s breaking dawn to it’s restful night…

Close your eyes..

image

Close your eyes…

Colors beyond the spectrum
Hues composed of love
Sparkle yet softened
Engulfing yet inviting

A beauty unparalleled
Not visual but felt
Alluring yet freeing
Enamoring yet calming

This colorful beauty
The picture of a living haven
Visible in clear sight
Yet needing no eyes

Glorious Company

image

Vast fields of plenty
Golden grains and grass
Yield and tilled
Harvested and recycled

Sideline bushery
Playfully sway
Adding mischief and contour
Bringing laughter and glee

All encompassed
As mothering Sun
Shines to illuminate
Both the way and life

What simplistic harmony
With delicate balance
Nurtures and fulfills
A full array of qualities

Rest and absorb
The bountiful beauty
The inherent peace
And recognize your glorious company

Tiny grains of sand

image

Tiny grains of sand
Compress and surface
As a string of pearls

Singular droplets of moisture
Merge and form
The great oceans

Flimsy wisps of cloud
Float and rise
As the comforting sky

Each and every breath
Shallow or deep
Opportunities encompassing existence

Such grandeur!
Pearls, oceans, the sky
Even existence.

All nothing without
The minutiae
Grains, droplets, wisps
And every little breath.

What is it that we see?
What is it that we acknowledge?
The whole?
Or it’s parts?

What are we?
Mankind
Nations
Communities
Or individuals?

How kindly we are made!
How kindly we are acknowledged!

Each with a face
Never duplicated
Each with a beat
Rhythm unique
Each allowed
Opportunity unparalleled!

Have you seen
The part you are?
Own your chance
Claim your gift
Live your turn
No strings attached
This is your time!