Graceful Goodbye

I watched you fall from the deep blue.

Did you hold on as long as you could?

Or maybe you welcomed your flight of descent?

You landed with grace.

 I waited, never looking away.

I wanted to capture you, to hold onto our moment.

Moments later, I pulled you in and kept you safe.

In distraction, I let you go.

I walked away in peace, knowing that is what you always wanted.

In grace and gratitude, we part.

-Laurel Rising

https://laurelrising.wordpress.com

Fallen to be Gathered

Darkness crept in to dull the colors,

Yet bunches of fallen leaves caught my eye

Without hurry or intent, I began to search,

To find what had been left

Gathering the given,

One by one I formed an arrangement of green, yellow, and brown.

A lesson of presence in a moment to notice the surrounding beauty.

Moments of therapy to heal my soul.

-Laurel Rising

https://laurelrising.wordpress.com

Carry This Feather, But Not Too Far

This meditation is based on an actual experience I had last evening while enjoying a leisurely walk: A young man went walking on a beautiful, breezy Autumn evening. Just before heading home, a small feather on the ground caught his eye, amidst the blowing leaves. He stopped, bent down, gave thanks to Creator for providing him the strength to enjoy such a beautiful walk, and for the bird whose feather the young man found laying on the ground. Once he had given thanks, a gentle voice spoke in the young man's heart:

"Carry this feather, but not too far; for soon another traveler will stop by here. That traveler, too, will benefit from the beauty of this feather which brother bird left behind." The young man stood, smiled, and carried the little feather which brother bird had given, until the young man reached the top of the hill. A gentle breeze blew. It was here that the young man stooped down and gently laid the feather back on the ground.

As we travel life's trail each day, may we embrace the beauty of all that Creator God has given to all that lives- the 2 legged, the 4 legged, the crawlers, the swimmers, and the flyers. May we walk with our hands open in such a way that what we freely receive, we freely give, with a pure heart.

-Zach Baker

October 2020

OPPOSITE

That which moves

Staying rooted to the spot

Is named plant

One can keep moving

While staying rooted

Like a plant

To stay rooted

Does not mean

Standstill

Guna Moran

https://twitter.com/GunaMoran

(Translated from Assamese by Bibekananda Choudhury)

YOU ARE MISSING

You are missing

In the joy of copulation

You are missing

In the ultimate achievement

You are absent

In the bed of death

You are absent

In the quest of entire life

You are missing

You are missing

-Guna Moran

https://twitter.com/GunaMoran

(Translated from Assamese by Bibekananda Choudhury)

A meditation on the creek that flows through Camp Mahonegon: Ellamore, West Virginia.

"Laughing Water"

Dance in her depths,

Cleansed by her sway.

She is steady, she desires to teach us

The mysteries which Creator breathed into her at the foundation of the world.

The trees cling by her shores, strong, sturdy.

The buck's rack grows, yet never too much to be weighed down to drink from this sacred source.

The she-deer, too, leads her young to drink.

Great Bear and Brother Wolf take rest beside her-with Mighty Hawk, after a long and toilsome journey down from Eagle Rock.

As the two and four legged, the flyers, creepers and swimmers rely on her for strength; she sings a hymn of the rain.

Her joyous laughter is in awe of the Creator;

She weeps at pollution and carelessness.

-Zach Baker

The Door

I am the door

The all you're longing for

I think I'll haunt you a little more...

-H. Lenschow/The Ghost Of Words, 2019.

After and Before

There will be an after, a before

But nothing will ever be
the same anymore

-H. Lenschow/The Ghost Of Words, 2019

Seeking

What we call seeking

is more of us being

sought.

             Where I am

I  never thought 

I'd be but here I

am  with time and circumstance

fitting naturally -- once

I discovered what was

bothering me. . .

the hidden treasure

inside.

-Byron Hoot

http://hootnhowlpoetry.com

Beggar

I am a beggar in this world;

everything I have has been given

to me.

          My bowl is always

daily empty:

                    I receive and I can

keep nothing I am given.

I have never lost the bowl

I beg with

                  and know enough

has no limit though too much

is too hard to carry and what one day

offers, the next cannot

provide.

            I, too, give to other

beggars

            as we wander to where

we've heard there's water

turning to wine.

-Byron Hoot

Upon my 68th Birthday

I see pictures of George Floyd 

being killed and know no law can

justify that

              and think, "How much self-

hatred he has to kill another man

hiding behind his uniform, hoping to say,

'I was just doing my job.' " 

                                   Think how we,

as individual citizens, have given

our responsibilities of being human

beings to legislators -- a caricature 

of flesh and blood and a beating heart 

and The Golden Rule tarnished by

so little use.

                   I am 68 today. 

And the fact is I think more,

feel more love and beauty

and that random radical called

grace than I ever have.

I have rarely hated myself 

to the point of denial, projecting 

justification for acts criminal.

I am flesh and blood and know

the urge of Cain; I am flesh 

and blood and know the urge of Jesus

and have chosen one over the other --

self-love is not selfishness but

commonsense.

                       And a democracy built

upon the blood of Native Americans,

the backs and bastards of slaves

has much to repent for 

                                     where the material quality

of life is not a worthy sacrifice

for our humanity.

                         I am 68 today

watching the sun shadow my yard

with the shadows of silver maples

on fresh cut grass.

                          Here "the peace

that passes understanding" is almost

so; here is not everywhere.

If I knew how to pray, I'd 

pray for "peace in our time"

but change the word "time"

to "hearts" -- peace there takes

care of time and circumstance

everywhere.

                    Today, I am 68.

-Byron Hoot