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Don't wait for its light to come to you!
Breathe in its light -
Now!
As if it were your own.
©Elisa Maria Argiro
Like a small bird
gathering bright objects for her nest,
I am gathering life.

Hands which reached out to me lead me on,
so I left at their bidding
for an ocean in the East.

Traveling through the night
as if lost in a waking dream,
I came at last to her proximity
and slept in an unknown room.

In the morning light,
beyond the highways,
I suddenly saw her, all April morning
blue and still.
Ocean water bathed my feet,
rinsed the crystal beads and pearls
I had worn to greet her.

Deep in the woods now, I see temples everywhere.
In the woodland light, some churches are.
Pagodas of bark and moss in the filtered light,
Ice caverns blue and still begin to melt
beside the waterfall that thunders down,
breathing mist in our faces, garlanding itself
in rainbow light.

In the small city airport
I am folded into the arms of my mother-of-pearl.
Salt water flows easily from my eyes -
like the sweet nectar filling my mouth.
"E facile per le farfalle di volare, sai."

I walk out into the grey-wet airfield,
screaming sounds of engines.
Walking forward, I close my eyes,
and the world is only light.

Now, I have come back to you,
with marzipan, and peacock feathers,
and stories of my adventures.

The light blazes, and the stars
send down their song.

The Universe is singing.
©Elisa Maria Argiro
This was written in April of 1978, after a visit to the East Coast. I was about to attend the first 'Student's Summer Sidhi Course' at Maharishi International University - which culminated with learning Yogic Flying. This is the context for my mother saying: È facile per le farfalle di volare, sai." (It is easy for butterflies to fly, you know.")
One perfect autumn day,
you stood under maples
in Northern Illinois, and there
was this kind of yellowness.

With compassion and technology,
you captured the light,
gave us an image,
gave us peace.
©Elisa Maria Argiro
Before the light comes,
the wind comes.
The wind of God.
The wind of God travels
all over the Earth,
awakening the night-sleeping birds,
bringing freshness to every land.
New hope, even where we are troubled,
or grieving, or suffering.
Often these days, this wind of God
blows through my open heart.
And it frees me to love totally,
to love innocently, to love bravely,
As God loves us.
©Elisa Maria Argiro

At the time this poem was forming into words, I was awakening early each morning, stepping out into the first rustling wind that, scientists tell us, literally travels around the Earth.
  Aug 2015 Elisa Maria Argiro
Havran
The dusk came;
I watched the moon glowing,
and there I have it,
a word to describe the feeling when you’re bluer than blue;
Yellow, darling,
that’s what it felt like, right?
Glowing, but empty.
It’s time to let go of those
who lift you up just to leave you emptier
than when they found you.
Remember how the sun sets to make way for the moon?
Well, this I tell you:
The moon leaves for a brighter day.
The dawn came;
I watched as the sun turned slowly
from red
to bright orange.
It’s the morning,
and
it’s
beautiful.
It’s time to rise and shine darling.
Rise above the horizon
and shine brighter.

To become your own sun,
to realize that you are the world,
and that
the people,
and the places,
and the phrases
and words
and thoughts
and ideas
that revolve
and pass around you
are
to each
their own solar systems.
It was wrong of them to tell us
that no man is an island.
Each one of us is an island,
and it is when you
peek into
The
Looking
Glass
that you realize
that some islands
have beacons
and some have
watchtowers,
yet all of them
are searching
for another light.
To shine in their way;
to lead,
or be lead
home.”

*Y.O. & D.C.
A collaboration between my dearest bestfriend and I :)
Three bright yellow stars on a little box of matches,
in a kitchen in Reykjavik.

When lit, they flare up with uncommon energy and brightness.
This little box of matches is from Sweden, like your people.

Having said it badly once,
I want to tell you what you have taught me.
How joy and strength, honesty and humor, create sanity.

Goodness is a fragrance you exude, like soft brown bread.
Green shoots of grass, and leaves,
are brighter because you have told me about them.

Once, sitting together in a park,
a real-live bluebird settled onto a telephone wire in front of us.

A metaphor paying a call, making a personal visit.

You brought that bluebird to us.
I know it.

Because you are my beloved best friend,
a Swedish form of light.
©Elisa Maria Argiro, 2008,  Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just between you and me,
I'd rather be a saint than a poet...

But to see the world like this:

A huge, shining consonant, lying on its side,
over the very ordinary clothesline,
well,
that's something, isn't it?
©Elisa Maria Argirò

— The End —