mystery

Posted on April 9, 2026 by celia


Mystery 
Cannot be captured
By the mind.
Instead, it 
Captures 
The heart. 

Dogma 
Can never really
Compete 
With love.

photo by pixel_unikat from Flickr per CC BY-ND 2.0

At the New Year

Posted on January 2, 2026 by celia

Rather than a New Year's resolution
I'm opting for a word to guide my year
A mantra of sorts to help me orient

"Enough' is what I've chosen

I think that is enough.

photo by Joss Rogers used per CC hosted on Flickr

The Vector

Posted on March 31, 2022 by celia

Have you ever noticed 
That there are some people 
Who seem to hold a brightness
In their spirit?

Their eyes are more alive. 
The day lifts a bit 
When they come into it. 
They bring a quiet joy. 

There is a confidence within them, 
But it is not focused on themselves. 
They seem to be held by an assurance
That the world is deeply right. 

What if, perhaps, they caught the holy virus?
And what if it is spread by smiles?
Even the tiny upturn of a lip, 
The twinkle in an eye, can bring exposure. 

And what if I, too, could be a carrier, 
A vector of life? 
Ah! That would make me smile!
(And did I just see the twinkle in your eye?)

my job

Posted on April 26, 2021 by celia

My job is not to be good
But to offer good to the nearby world.

Going to seed 
Might actually be a good thing.

[photo from nature has no boss, used with permission]

yes or no

Posted on September 22, 2020 by celia

Does it matter to the world
That I have lost my center;
That I find my heart jerked back and forth
With every new event
And the conjecture about what it means?

Does my own peace or angst
Add anything to the world’s unfolding?

The answer is either yes, or no.

Either way, it makes a difference
Whether I can find my way to peace, in You.

If yes -
If my own centering in Your presence
Can help in some small way
To remind the world that there is a center
And that we are all invited in -
Then it does make a difference
To one small corner of the world.

If no -
If my peace or angst are mine alone,
If there are no ripples from my presence,
Then, I might as well seek peace.
It will, after all,
Make a vast difference to me
Even if it is me, alone.

And I expect the truth
Is somewhere in the middle.
It is both yes and no.
I will not change the world, much.
But even a little can make a difference.

I know this because
The kind smile of a friend,
The simple sigh of one I love,
The joy that invades my heart
From seeing the pure joy of my granddaughter
Or the soft, proud smile of her mother
These make my life rich.

I am pulled from poverty of spirit
To the rich, full embrace of life
By little things.

And so, I resolve
To offer what little things I can
To life,
To You,
And, so, to the world.

I give my offering
As a ‘yes’ to the center
That gives its life to me.

[photo by piotr mamnaimie per cc 2.0; captured through flickr]

The web

Posted on September 16, 2020 by celia

Hope.
Quiet hope.
Deep assurance.
Holy breath.

These hold me here, in time.
These still my soul.
These hold me true.

Why then do I hurry past the moments of opportunity?
Why does my heart keep turning aside
To gaze at the plastic trinkets scattered on the path
Or run to hide from the angry voices shouted in the air?

How do I let myself get distracted again, again, again?

AAAUGH!

I turn to run and find myself stumbling into you.
You have been standing there, waiting for me.
I cry out again and release myself into your arms.
And you take me in.

You sit me down upon the grass.
I lean myself upon your frame.
And sigh a tearful, stuttering sigh.

You place your hand upon my shoulder
And whisper in my ear, “Here, here.”
Not ‘there, there,’ as I might expect,
But ‘here, here.’

And that with that brief turn of phrase,
My heart takes its breath and turns, as well.
And I am, for just a moment, here.

Here – the only place I can really be right now.
‘There’ is only fantasy,
A wishful, fearful, fitful web,
Sticky with false promises.

Here. Here within your arms.
Here and nowhere else.
Here for just a breath.
Here, here, is life.

[photo by Susanne Nilsson per cc 2.0]