Twilight…

Fog hanging over a dark forest—

Twilight dreams...

THERE IS A PATH...

 

There is a path…

What goodness desires, even that is done,

For it performs the thing that is appointed for us:

And many such things are with us---

There is a path which no fowl knows, 

And which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

The lion's whelps have not trodden it,

And the fierce lion passed by,--

Goodness puts forth its hand upon the rock; 

And overturns the mountain by the roots.  

Goodness carves out a river among the rocks; 

And sees every precious thing. 

It binds the floods from overflowing;  

The thing that is hidden brings it forth to light. 

Be with the stars…

 Be with the stars,

Inspired--and so

Heaven... evening clear!

EMH

Don’t Ask Me About Love

 Don’t Ask Me About Love

What grace, what wisdom will give me wings and make my life equal to a dove, that I may rest?

…

Is human life really like a meadow?  There the lush green grass wet from the morning dew bends its head and supports tender flowers and makes them grow—but, oh!  Under cover silently waits a serpent!  My feet look for another path to step away from the foe…

…

I love a solitary life, it includes the mountaintops, the streams that rush down into the valley and the dark woods where I like to linger and listen to the owl, or the golden-winged warbler, a delight to me, as all songs that come out of the throats of little birds—they have sight of Heaven!

I prefer their company to those with deaf ears and cold hearts and blind minds—or bruised senses.

…

Don't ask me about love— it changes by the minute, makes some blind to its radiance.

…

In some moments I ask Intelligence, "What is it I need to see?"

No answer!  

But when you call, the answer comes immediately!

…

A tranquil peace brings comfort free from the sneers of pain!  

Free from the tearing winds—and I endure,

and smile…

Even so, my thoughts continue to speak to me about deep wounds and an injured heart!

Ah, I know not to speak about problems but to them!

…

When Gautama the Buddha sat under the Botree he made a great discovery: "Only love goes from me and only love comes to me!”

From the shores there blows a western wind and awakes the flowers in the grassy meadow from dreaming, and I—shed a tear.

…

It is impossible to define Love as it is to define the infinite!   And above all it defines itself and the universe. To understand it is to understand Life!

…

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not really what I meant.

So, I drew a circle and took you in!

…

I'm only one, but still, I am one.  I cannot do everything. But, I'm always willing to do something, I do not refuse to do anything that I can do!

…

To live is to express yourself. “So let your works lead your words.”

…

Will you seek me far off, or in the here and now?

I see you face to face.......

2018, rev. 2021, 2022

The Red Bench

Near a fountain

A red bench—a place

To rest, and be refreshed,

The water flowing, flowing

From the blue mountains.

The wind is high above 

Dancing in the trees,

Crowns swaying

From side to side…

How cool the breeze 

Against my face!

Now an echo—a song 

Vigorously sung

By a bird, and suddenly 

All is still.

Night has come.

The dark forest keeps

Its secrets...

A path nearby —

I ask

“Whereto does it lead?”

In the distance

City lights

And again

The sound of the bird

Now very close…it is

Near my feet—!

It is Time!

 It is time!

Time to rehumanise—in 

A manner of speaking.  

The skeptic—certainly we’ve all been there—

Might retort „What, with all the stress

And fear? Humanity seems besides itself—

Divided, angry, lost!“ But another year has past

And a new year moves forward...

Be not like a lion … or something of that sort—

Nor display a „faux air“ 

Of Nebuchadnezzar in the fields,

With hair that reminds of eagles‘ feathers,

Nails grown like bird claws...

Rather take pleasure in the grass,

In being at rest or making a path,

Savor that chant of the seasons

With its hope for the future...

Be of good cheer in the wind!

A moment or two will pass,

The purpose—our better natures made clear!

Now a new idea—

A better time has arrived,

In laughter feel no sense confined!

Patiently move on,

Rejoice in the decency of man!

EMH  

April 2021

Peace...like a gentle stream...

PEACE

My tears are flowing

Like a gentle stream

Over cheeks and lips

As I am touched by Your

Gracious Words, and You bid

The inner tumult to cease,

Teaching me, dear God, Your peace.

I in gratitude to You,

O Beloved! I can see

There I was to be

In sadness, and a

Loss of tranquility—

Through a silent prayer

My heart was safe from enmity,

Rising up again to You,

Peace to all, and to him and me -- it sang

Of Your immediacy, and

Will not let me go astray

But fulfills in its silent way:

“Let no vacuum ever there be.”

Your dear love always reaches me

Like the fullness of a morning beam,

I am free of tears, and all shadows flee.