reflections

Ignorance

Man’s greatest curse 

Ignorance of who he is.

So what are we!?

We are dust that has come alive 

Dust that is impregnated 

By the ultimate 

Giving movement, thought and spirit 

Beyond imaginable incredibility.

If for a moment we dare to appreciate 

That we are drops of water, 

Chemicals and their reactions,

Unfathomable yet engineered 

Into synchronicity and self regulation, 

With nature’s bell curve 

From infancy to geriatric demise, 

Given the fortune of possibly seven decades or more.

Where in this timeframe 

Did we give credence

To the liberty of life?

Too busy distracted 

With fear, greed, and a presumed freedom 

When all along 

The ultimate has been bestowed, 

Day after day 

Each a renewed opportunity 

To participate, to glorify 

Existance.

For in a blink of an eye 

And as your actual eyes close, 

It will come to an end 

And what will it have all meant? 

Nothing!

For it was only for you alone 

To enjoy, to unfold, to acknowledge 

This relationship 

You, your existence, your sustainer.

So don’t take lightly 

Revel in your seasons,

Reflect and learn your lessons 

Grow and reach towards the light within.

As only then 

Will you beam and reflect

A truth for yourself and your community 

Both.

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

Mat-Eternity

Beyond the nursing

Diaper changing

Feeding, bathing

The endless list of verb-ing

A mother subliminally shares

The deepest bond 

Where emotions are perceived 

Dreams, aspirations are known

Fears and regrets are soothed

She is a super hero

Magical strength

Far reaching vision

Always recognizing 

All you need

All she can do 

And to do it 

With an unshakable love.

How does the saying go?

Mothers are angels

Without wings 

Sent by God

How fortunate 

That each and everyone of us 

Is-was blessed

Not without but with our very own angel.

And even when

No longer Earthly

She stays close to our heart

Whispering day and night

Sweetness second to none

Encouragement and praise showered as

Only a mother can and will.

So hold your child

Cherish your mother 

As everyday’s a gift 

And take not for granted 

To mother or be mothered.

Nepal to Nara

The man, Siddharthar Gautama,

Of Indian decent 

Known now across all continents.

‘Princedom’ childhood

Protected and privileged 

Lap of luxury.

Curiosity of a tender 

Wholesome heart.

Peeking beyond the fortress

Tears of realization, 

Suffering is omnipresent

Nirvana is not created.

With stillness,

Acceptance, 

Came actualization.

Everything has its place 

Dharma, Karma, Samsara.

With responsibility taken

Each can find our Buddha within;

Enlightenment to tread this earth

Free of entrapments, suffering.

The path from Nepal

The spirit of Buddha

Sits giant-like 

In Todaji Temple,

Surrounded 

By the bowing deer of Nara.

Gazing up

To the height and depth 

Of this monumental form,

My spirit expands 

With a knowingness, 

That it is only my stillness

That brings

My samsara,

My nirvana,

Right here, right now;

Which ever corner 

Of the planet I sit. 

Japan Waters Teach

In secluded Teahouses, 

Shrines surprising on any given dori,

Onsens, lakes and glistening stalactites;

Water everywhere is revered…

Quenching

Rejuvenating 

Exhilarating 

Purifying…

Immerse into Onsen waters,

Healing heat and minerals

Weightlessness teaches trust

Promise of nature’s caring protections.

Teahouses simmer waters ceremoniously,

With ‘Harmony’ between the articles and the environment 

Utmost ‘Respect’ of the process

Precision and care for ‘Purification’ 

All with ‘Silence’ and concentration.

Passing though a Tori, shrine after shrine 

Welcoming water wells and baths

Offer cleansing of the body,

Both inside and out.

Hosted by Hozu-gawa River

Floating along oar by oar,

Accompanied by scenic trains, birds

Along embankments and bridges alike 

Until a squeezed passageway

Between silver grey boulders 

Rocking and splashing,

Rapids, cool and drench…

What of this liquid

Colorless

Tasteless

Yet infinitely irreplaceable!

Unique to the Pale Blue Dot.

I hold you in my cupped hands,

You kiss my surrendering lips 

You run through my veins

Synchronized to life itself.

The Hidden 

Source of all creation,
Sort for in disguise 
As power, status,
Accumulated accolades and acquisitions. 

Fluid yet omnipresent,
Like the soft drizzle of rain
Slowly, flowing and circling 
Back to the seas.

We are that drop
Manifested of love
Looking for love,
Lost in the storms.

How delicate this play,
A scavenger hunt designed
Clues strewn in your path,
Undeniable beauty 

In every bud, petal
Baby, cub,
Ancient story,
Familial feeling.
 
Filled with an intrigue
The search is endless,
Yet the prize sits
Literally under you nose.

If the thirst is sincerely evoked 
The universe concedes.
With every stardust particle 
Your true love, the union

Uncloaks, lays naked
And embraces.
Here is heaven on earth
And the game of love

Is truly afoot.
As now the longing and satiation  
Can be played each day
With lover and love 

All in one abode.
Know the temple, your own being 
Feel the beloved ,as home 
Is completely where your heart is.

Inferno

Innocent sparks ignite

A simple flicker to a glow of a flame 

Then a roaring fire to an acreage eating blaze!

The oxygenated wind 

In her bewildered dance

Is she swirling in a rage? 

Or like the birds

Horses, dogs and cats

Squirrels, skunks 

And even every man;

Is she obsessed in her flurry 

To escape?

Not knowing herself 

Her power 

Her realm,

She laps up the terrain 

Bring insufferable heat

Suffocating smoke and ash.

Man’s effort to defend, to fight

To save, to rally together 

Brings forth the hour of humanity.

Apocalyptic carnage 

Leaves molten metal,

Literal dust of all wood

Brick and mortar 

Homes and lives 

Emptied, destroyed, obliterated. 

Not a trinket left to salvage. 

What is this?

A lesson to be learnt?

Explanations galore!

From Politicians

Geophysicists 

And every pundit and priest.

‘But hasn’t it happened before?’

‘Oh but never so destructive,

Never as bad as this!’ 

They say.

Perhaps we encroached 

A little too far

In deserts, mountains, coast lines.

Where man is not exactly sustainable.

This planet, 

This space

For the span of your lifetime, 

Is a ‘rental’

We forget.

It was here before us,

And will be for sure, 

Here without us.

So put aside 

The finger pointing, 

The grievances 

The many explanations.

With coming together,

Understanding our nature 

Our opportunity,

Let hope and innovation flourish

Unity lead,

Humility and compassion serve

And respect be universe.

*”It is in the ‘darkness’ 

Of devastation, 

man made(war) or not,

Is when we need the ‘candle of light”

*paraphrased words of Prem Rawat

Fall

Fall time, fall years

Culmination of beauty

Wisdom

Perspective.

Immersed and surrounded

By a depth,

Only time can give.

Riches,

Only experience can gather.

Gratitude,

Only surrendering reveals.

The fine lines 

The atrophy

The forgetfulness,

Ceases to grip 

As anguish begins to melt.

What comes, will pass

What hurts, will fade

And peace is found,

As the cyclic natural of all

Comes to light.

And most of all,

A returning

To a consciousness.

Floating with a birds eye view

Disengagement from drama, trauma.

All that’s created here 

To be left here

Returning to a neutral purity.

As we came, shall we return.

No baggage,

But definitely not empty handed. 

As what was the purpose

Of this interlude

Between birth and death, 

‘Life’ as we call it, 

This opportunity, this experience.

To have take form of the ‘Source’.

And then to walk, to wander,

To wonder, to revel

In this creation 

Beyond comprehension. 

What minuscule chance 

We have to exist

Where galaxies and universes reign.

Yet here we are.

Be sure to query and question,

To spark your thirst 

To to find your why,

And finally ‘KNOW’ thyself.

As your ‘fall’ fades 

And the winter will ensue 

Be sure to have built 

The one relation standing firm to the end.

  • Truth of Confusion

    Truth,

    What is.

    Confusion,

    Everything else..

    Concepts

    Perceptions

    Conditioning.

    Fear

    Guilt

    Insecurities.

    Imagination 

    Learnt behaviors

    Expectations.

    All run you wild 

    Physically

    Mentally.

    Driven by 

    Cortisol

    Adrenalin.

    Slowing, 

    Applying 

    The brakes 

    Takes 

    Practice,

    Self talk

    In kindness,

    Forgiveness

    Self worthiness.

    Truth,

    You are.

    Confusion,

    Transient attributes.

    Whether 

    Actual

    Or not.

    Truth,

    Your are dynamic.

    Confusion,

    You want definition.

    Truth,

    You are free.

    Confusion,

    You feel tied.

    Breathe

    Breath.

    Feel 

    Flow. 

    This the 

    Only

    Possible

    Truth there is.

    You

    Need 

    To know.

  • Marvel

    A New Year, 

    A new day

    A new second

    The human perspective 

    So small

    So narrow

    When the universe 

    So ginormous 

    So vast.

    Discoveries at their peak

    With the use of the Hubble 

    To James Webb telescopes 

    Existence 

    Distance

    Evolution 

    Now seen or understood 

    In limitless beauty 

    And the mastery of design.

    We,

    The entire history of our human race,

    Here 

    For even less than a minute,

    If all existance 

    Scaled into an appreciation of a day. 

    And yet we still 

    Marvel at the beginning 

    And end of a ‘year’

    Rhetoric of the ‘Now’

    Being ‘Present’

    All commercialized, trendified!

    Yet here lies

    Every possibility that can be had.

    Look no further 

    Look not to the vastness of the skies

    But into the realm of your heart,

    You encapsulated yet circulate

    In both universes

    Inside and out.

    Only one can be truly 

    Felt, understood 

    Beyond any doubt, 

    That you are as magnificent as

    All the stars, galaxies 

    Milkyways

    And Universe.

    You are the drop 

    In the ocean,

    Yet that ocean

    Is within you.

    Marvel, not at the New Year, 

    Marvel at You!

    You are existence 

    In all it’s beauty,

    Magnificence 

    And all possibilities.

    Happy recognition 

    Of Now, 

    The day

    And of You!

  • Ignorance

    Man’s greatest curse 

    Ignorance of who he is.

    So what are we!?

    We are dust that has come alive 

    Dust that is impregnated 

    By the ultimate 

    Giving movement, thought and spirit 

    Beyond imaginable incredibility.

    If for a moment we dare to appreciate 

    That we are drops of water, 

    Chemicals and their reactions,

    Unfathomable yet engineered 

    Into synchronicity and self regulation, 

    With nature’s bell curve 

    From infancy to geriatric demise, 

    Given the fortune of possibly seven decades or more.

    Where in this timeframe 

    Did we give credence

    To the liberty of life?

    Too busy distracted 

    With fear, greed, and a presumed freedom 

    When all along 

    The ultimate has been bestowed, 

    Day after day 

    Each a renewed opportunity 

    To participate, to glorify 

    Existance.

    For in a blink of an eye 

    And as your actual eyes close, 

    It will come to an end 

    And what will it have all meant? 

    Nothing!

    For it was only for you alone 

    To enjoy, to unfold, to acknowledge 

    This relationship 

    You, your existence, your sustainer.

    So don’t take lightly 

    Revel in your seasons,

    Reflect and learn your lessons 

    Grow and reach towards the light within.

    As only then 

    Will you beam and reflect

    A truth for yourself and your community 

    Both.

    Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

  • Silence

    Poetry Pharmacy – Silence 

    “How still, how happy! Now I feel 

    Where silence dwells is sweeter far

    Than laughing mirth’s most joyous swell

    However pure its raptures are.”

    Emily Brontë 

    Ahhhh this place of silence 

    Awaiting my arrival day and night 

    No appointments, no reservations 

    No declines, no rescheduling.

    Premium seat guaranteed 

    Reception perfectly suited 

    To wash away the tarnishing mind

    Silence with peaceful hum of breath 

    Music with depth greater than the heart 

    This the purest of joys!

  • Redo or not?!

    The one thing I would redo…

    At 58 I sit and ponder

    What would I redo?

    Would I redo the daisy chains made on my middle school fields

    Would I redo the endless questions posed to my mother about the hows and what fors of nature

    Would I redo the cooking explosions making pasties and cakes in my besties’ mom’s kitchen

    Would I re do the pains of teen metamorphosis 

    Would I redo the fantasies of first love

    Would I redo the dreams of who I wanted to be

    Would I redo the endless tears struggling with health, the I’m not good enoughs 

    Would I redo the fears and doubts of immigrant life 

    Would I redo the losses of loved ones too dear to name

    NO!!!

    None would I redo 

    As they broke the mold

    They blazed a furnace 

    And created the me today

    With humility and gratitude

    A serene peace 

    A most thankful heart 

    I am here today 

    As the grace of life continues to be gifted

    With a knowing that prevails 

    All is just how it needs to be for me 

    Thankyou for all your lovely birthday wishes this 2025!

Volcano to Sun

Hollow and deep

Bubbling and boiling 

Brewing beneath the surface 

Puffing, spewing, pouring 

Mount Vesuvius, St.Helens, Kilimanjaro.

Eternally ignited 

Sizzling globe

Furnace of power 

Brighter than bright

Our greatest star the Sun.

Both ominously glorious

Nature’s universal creations

Gargantuously majestic 

Purpose essential 

To this ecosystem of life.

Qualities of both

The Sun

The volcanoes 

Beholden in each and every human.

Some bright and glowing 

Sharing their light

Impartial, inclusive 

Rising above the nonsense.

Some are shy, reserved 

Yet their depth can be sensed

As power resides 

At the core of their being.

With the stroke of kindness

Peppering of understanding 

The human can rise

From dormant volcano 

To enigmatic candle.

Shared is this earth, this time 

So realize, capture 

The preciousness 

Of this merciful gift of existence.

What an experience, this human life

From mundane and tiresome 

To privileged and magical

As the switch so simple

When each breath, each moment 

Is valued as priceless.

Glitter or Gold

All that glitters is not gold

We’ve always known.

So what is glitter? 

And what is gold?

In this life we are constantly striving,

Striving to add bows

Bows, certificates, accolades

This glitter is the distraction.

The more the merrier 

Driving, fueling the adrenaline 

From morning to night,

From day to year

Year to a lifetime 

On goes the madness.

All the while the true gold

Is buried deeper and deeper,

With layer upon layer  

Of all that’s gathered and acquired.

A temporary happiness

Fleeting feelings of fulfillment,

Come and go 

Until an emptiness howls.

And then the, truest work 

Of digging, unlayering

Must begin to uncover the forgotten gold.

Much like an onion

Each peel removes the debris

Bringing you closer

To an ancient knowingness

Here at your core 

Laying in wait 

Your treasures are found 

A warmth, a love

A peace, a strength 

A home, a union 

At last 

The gold!

The Third Season

Anatoliy Misuik, Autumn Breath, 2022, Lviv Ukraine

The morning air

clean and slight crisp.

The golden orb

slower to rise.

This third season

closes what has been amassed 

with a serene gratitude.

Gentle and as abundantly as the falling leaves.

Yet opens the door 

to reflection and consolidation,

giving rise to fortitude 

needed to step into the shorter darker days.

Maturing beauty surrounds

with swaying wheat bushels.

Rich solid gourds and pumpkins 

adorning doorsteps and mantles.

Summer fruits dwindle,

as hearty fall veggies

gathered for soups and stews 

await crusty bread dipping.

This the season 

of closing in onto the self.

Comforting for some.

Frightful for others.

For your own autumn’s coming,

collect the savoring of memories 

rich and robust for growing closer 

to your inner core.

As this, your core, will never dwindle

decay and dissolve. 

And as you await your winter

fear not the cold or isolation.

But welcome the comfort,

Companionship

of that which you has seen you through 

each and all of your seasons.