reflections

Interdependence

What a virtue, what a trait

Independence!

Encouraged, applauded

Even envied

To stand on your own feet

To make and pave your own way

To rely on not a single soul

What an accomplishment!

But wait a minute!

Do you even open your eyes

Unless the sun

Comes peeking at your window

Bringing you a new day

How would you even get to bathe

Had the clouds not emptied

Or the snow not melted

So the streams could run and reservoirs rise

How would you smell your morning coffee

Had the sub-equatorial lands

Not grown and reaped the beans

Ground and brewed in your Keurig 

What clothing would you don

Had the cotton not been picked

The yarns not been spun

Garments not been stitched

So in true essence

Are we really ‘independent’?

Or are we ‘interdependent’!

And if so, what have we understood?

Do we accept and realize

Our co-existence

Our co-dependency

Our inherent need for allegiance

With the natural world

The countries we have created

To our neighbors

To our own selves!

Taken for a ride

By the good old ego

We pride ourselves

With a claim to independence

Yet looking deeper

Within and around

We are part of a whole

Where even a breath

Is not under our control

The gift of all gifts

Sent magically into your being

Silently with no fanfare

It’s time to question

Time to ponder and reflect

What an incredible existence

Where everything is so magnanimous postured

That blinded we have become

To the interconnections

That’s serve to sustain

Our universal existence

Time to wake up

Not to just smell the roses

But care for the roses

And all else on this blue planet

Floral Gifts

Unequivocal beauty

Blooming grace, like a dance 

Drawing riches from the terra 

Your petals defy the science 

Fluttering delicately 

Like wings of the butterfly

Yet with the strength of an army 

You win each battle for my heart

How gloriously you entrance me

Leading back to simplicity of gratitude 

Smiling outside and inward

Warmth of omnipresence made tangible 

Mates of the same soul…

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For some,

I am a representation

Of their enamor with another.

For some,
They see me but fear my thorns.
For others
I’m too dainty to touch or unreachable.
But you,
You find me though I hide.
You see
Not only my contours, hues and parts,
But my longing, luster and love.
With your lens and your gaze,
You cast away my shadows.
Make my surrounding disappear,
Give me center stage
Bringing me into existence,
And then make me immortal.
Hovering and circling
You embrace
Even dance me.
Moving from a steadfast stance
To glorious highs of the smoothest rhythms.
Finally, we find our place
Where the moment is captured,
With a knowing that the frame,
Shows how we are mates
Of the same soul.

Nature’s Valentine

With your eyes upon me
I stand in your trance
Delicate, supple,
Dare I say, beautiful

Your kindness showers a light
What you see is your reflection
Except you think
The beauty belongs all to me

Together we beam
Bouncing energies that gleam
Much like chicken and egg
Where does this beauty begin and reside?

Universal is this beauty’s light
So easy to see in nature’s delights
Yet if so omnipresent
Why so hard to accept
That we are part of the same exquisite design

Come, my admirer
Share with me your heart
So that I may too
See my reflection

Then with such an embrace
Of love, light and beauty
Gratitude can reign
And we both shall have truly lived

Departing January

January you arrived 12.01
With sparkles and sizzle
Must you fizzle
As you depart?

Taking with you
The glimmer of hope
Planted in the dark

No! you bring beginnings
Opportunity to start afresh

Yet each year brings too
My detectable age
With my luster
Working harder to push through

Searching and embracing
Ways new and old
For truer gratification
I survive the winter

The winter where the sun
Barricaded by thick sheets of cloud
Leaves brittle and dry

The winter of separated lovers
Conforming to conventional expectations
Hearts ache and cold

The winter of lost souls
Deafened by laws and rites of religions, traditions
Confused and wandering

Whether the season
The heart
The soul

January
Thank you for your lesson
Your message of hope
To seize each moment

As this gift of time
Despite the seeming ease of renewal
Is the keeper of all things

Depart now
Leave with me my resolutions
My aspirations
As I pray to circle once more
Around the great one
So as we may meet again

Returning Old Friend

Left guessing each morning
As the night sky lingers,
Sun rising faster elsewhere
You tease your arrival.

Tickling the leaves
At the tips of weighted branches,
Sway is soft, sometimes brisk
Ghost-like you change the air.

Mid morning telling
With full force brightness,
Your are not quite ready
To come and stay.

Waiting for your signs
With warm hues of amber and burnt orange,
The longing deepening
For what only you can deliver.

Trees will be crowned
With jewels to be shed,
Giving comfort
And rustle to my feet.

Fall you arrive
Bringing time to reconnect,
As the hearth becomes
The gathering spot.

Time for reflection
Three quarters in,
The year almost done
What’s happened? what’s yet to be done?

Lists never completed
Bewildering and unforgiving,
Instead let’s give thanks
To each day, each season.

Thank you my old friend
You teach how to shed,
Keep gratitude close
And revive for seasons to come.

Breath of Fresh Air

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This stagnant air
Pungent with pride
Obstinacy and malice!
Leaves no room to breathe.

The weave so thick
With every cause, every claim
Each voice just another noise.
No surprise there are no winners.

Acute pain or oblivion
Victim or perpetrator,
The weight so heavy, why bother to change!
Just surrender to your place in the chain.

Yet each day there’s a new dawn
Chance to shed the snake skin, leave behind yesterday.
Make the clean break
With a breath of fresh air.

Walk, even run away from the clatter,
But don’t turn that blind eye!
Summon the strength from within
With each in and exhale.

Rotating in our spaces
We may not know each other,
We may not even see each other.
But we are linked by times past and present.

Each one of our acts count.
From a hand in community work
To recycling plastic bottles
Or a simple smile and story shared.

Denying our obvious commonalities is ignorance accepted!
As this one world is home to all.
And even more basic
Is how we breathe,
The same air
In the same way.

So together,
Lets make
And take,
A breath of fresh air.

Resonance 1

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Flow of flutes
Beat of drums
Glide of strings

Instruments played
Notes to melodies
Melodies to harmonies

Moving towards me
Ears not only
But my pores

Hear the feeling
Of ancient times
With divine perseverance

We blend
Boundary lost
Vibrating as one

Am I the music?
Is the music in me?

In this space
Unquestioned freedom
Peace

Gently resides
Inviting me
In

Held
Rested
P’haps even saved

Bringing
Flow, rhythm
Resonance

To my being
Being alive
Being here

Blessedly Alive

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Deepened blue to grey mingle

Streaking the clouded sky

Robbing of luminosity;

Nature’s foreboding way.

 

With unseeable cracks

The leakage begins,

Pitter patter, a sweet sprinkle

A gentle caress.

 

With wind accompaniment

Shifting cumulus and nimbus,

A rhythm ensues

Giving signs of greater offerings.

 

In awe of what has no actual form

Yet holds a thunderous roar,

Comes forth as precipitation

A dance of both fear and hope.

 

To witness is to be entranced,

This illusionary masterpiece,

Magical to monstrous

From one moment to next.

 

Connections click

Like cogs deep inside,

My engines kick start

With a heat of ancient knowing.

 

With droplets delivered to every pore

My being stirred to a glow,

With no measure, no timing

No rhythm, no rhyme

This feeling bestowed

By the mightiest hand.

Making my being

So blessedly alive.

 

Rain or shine

Thunder or lightning,

Drizzle or torrents

My life is afoot!

 

Each second

Each day

This mighty breath,

My rain so delivered.

 

With; everything is possible

Without; the clock has struck out.

 

So,

Blessed are all moments,

And may only ‘breath’ be the one

That ‘takes my breath away’!

 

 

 

Unforgettable

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Infectious smile
Hearty laughter
Jester, teaser
My heart so warms
Wanting to be sad
Instances unpredictable
Yet somewhere there is freedom
For both you and me
My spirit knows you’re in peace
My living form still wants you near
As days pass I learn
I can still have joy
Joys we both made
My gratitude eases the pain
My humility allows acceptance
From my depth emerge answers
Not all that are alive are living
Not all that are dead are gone
But if we are truly One
Then it must be
That if I live
Then you must too
And so, brother
My heart continues to beat ♥️