Category Archives: almost poems

meditations with a poetic flair

Precipice

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dandelion heartI sigh.
I gather myself for a moment’s centering.
I wait upon the edge of quiet
Letting my soul seep in.

Each breath draws in.
Each breath empties out.
The quiet deepens.
I release my fluttering thoughts into the void.

I refuse to ride my thoughts away.
I let them go, without me
And am surprised to see that I remain.
They do not hold the deepest me.

You do.

I do not know why that is a surprise
But I smile as I snuggle down into your lap.
I rest my heart upon your whisper
And turn my cheek to your caress.

Your lullaby is a wordless melody
Sung in the quiet forever
Only audible in stillness
But ever there.

I rouse myself enough to wonder
If my bliss seems boring to the more adventurous souls.
You croon and hold me close
And my heart beats with excitement.

This quiet moment is, indeed, but foreplay …

[the photo is my own]

Thanks for intentional mothering

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mother's hug

Your lullaby is the secret melody of my soul
Singing me through the night
And into the arms of God.

Your whispered prayers,
The ladders to heaven
Where angels come close enough to touch.

Your eyes,
A mirror of my very self
Framed in love – reflecting only beauty.

Your arms,
A ready haven, melting hurt
Into a puddle of love.

For these gifts of intentional mothering,
I am so very grateful –
They gird my soul with grace.

[image cropped from photo by Maria Grazia Montagnari per cc 2.0]

 

A Full Circle of Grace

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circle of graceHoly One,
Lift my heart from fog
Lift my life from shadows
And touch me with your sun.

You do.
You lift me and I am glad.
You hold me and my heart rejoices.
You kiss my head and peace anoints my soul

Your holy gift,
My joy at receiving,
These complete for just a moment
A full circle of grace.

Amen

9-7-01

[photo by chocolatsombre per cc 2.0]

Simple gifts

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'tis a gift to be simple‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.
– Joseph Brackett (sung by Jewel)

Holy One
I walk the distance in my soul
The distance from distracted to quiet
The distance from scattered to whole
The distance from me to you.

Too often I forget that you are there
That you already surround and embrace me
That turning, turning,
Places me in your arms, in your quiet
In your delight – and in mine.

Bring me to that turning
Help me touch the quiet
Help me to embrace your simple gifts
Of love and delight
Of connection and deep peace.

I quiet my soul
I turn and lean in just the tiniest bit
And find I am resting my head upon your chest
And feel you wrap your holy spirit ’round me
This … this is home.

Thank you.
Amen.

[photo by Kate Ter Haar per cc 2.0]

 

You have no right

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you have no right

You have no right to speak my truth for me;
To choose the words or set the cadence.
It is mine … it is me.

You have no right to tell me who I am, who I should be,
Based upon your own determined ‘truth.’
‘I AM’ does not belong to you, either.

That said, I cannot presume to know your truth
Or deeply understand the place from which it springs.
It belongs to you, shapes you, as mine shapes me.

Given that we are in this together,
Would it be better to start from questions
Rather than presumptions?

I mean the kind of questions that are, themselves, true;
The gentle, inquisitive, persistent questions that actually want to know;
The ones that lead to true understanding.

I mean the kind of questions that acknowledge
That the bigger truth cannot be held within one small frame;
That my small truth is never big enough.

I mean the earnest search for truth that calls each of us
Into the deepest expression of our own true selves.
I mean the truth whose source is love.

I AM calls each I am into being.
I AM loves each I am along the way,
Fully, at every point, without precondition.

And I am learning, slowly, to relinquish my hold
Upon my small definition of truth, my small definition of me.
I am learning, instead, to be held, in truth.

[photo by Andy Hay per cc 2.0]

rainy day

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light rain on grassThe rain today is a slow drizzle
The kind that sinks gently into your soul
Filling the deep cracks that have yearned for its coming
Drawing the broken pieces whole

As I go about my day
Doing the dailyness; tidying and futzing with the debris of my week
The rain is there, in the background
Filling my holes.

What persistent grace you give
Working its way when I notice, and when I do not
Seeping down between each grain of sand
To firm it up, to allow it to hold its shape

You are the rain of my soul
The filler of my holes
The holder of my tiny fragments of self
The moisture that feeds the dry with hope

The tiny wildflowers that sprout across the pasture in delight of drizzle
Give testament to that persistent grace
And to the seeds of gifts within my frame
That you call forth within the quiet patter of an afternoon.

[photo by jenny downing per cc 2.0]

Celebrating 50 years of Life Together

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anniversary celebrationLife is found in relationship.
Even an introvert knows that.
And a good relationship gives birth to another
… and another and another.

This week I watched a tapestry unfold
The individual threads – each one unique –
Delighted in their interconnections;
Each enriching the other.

Friends and family, together.
Stories told and embellished.
Old memories unfolding into new ones
Held together with the kind of laughter
That needs no excuse to blossom.

Perhaps the biggest gift
Was watching the youngest generation
Inviting all the others to dance in sweet abandon.
It is a lovely promise of the years to come –
Love expanding to embrace – and to grace – the world.

[Tim and Anne Banks – 50 year anniversary celebration – August 7, 2015]

Could it be?

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a smile

Could it be true
that what you long for most
is my smile when I look upon you,
just as I long for yours?

Could it be
that this connection
is the heart of all creation?

Could it be
that you want my bliss
more than I do?

Could it be
that you hold it in your hands right now,
and offer it as a free gift of love?

Then let us gaze upon each other
and smile.

[photo by Abhinay Omkar per cc 2.0]