Drove through snowstorms over icy roads
Warmed by the fire of my love for you
Following a lifeline of energy
Thought it led to your heart, warm and true
But there was only burning pain as you pushed me back
Erasing all the joy I ever knew
Signs were there that it was a trap
But the mine exploding in my face was my first clue

"Let us have love and more love, a love that melts all opposition, a love that conquers all foes, a love that sweeps away all barriers, a love that aboundeth in charity, large-heartedness, tolerance, and noble-striving, a love that triumphs over all obstacles, a boundless, resistless, sweeping love. Ah me!

Each one must be a sign of love, a sea of love, a centre of love, a sun of love, a star of love, a haven of love, a pearl of love, a palace of love, a mountain of love, a world of love, a universe of love.

Hast thou love? Then thy power is irresistible.

Hast thou sympathy? Then all the stars will sing thy praise!"

~ 'Abdu'l-Baha, Star of the West, VII:17, 19 January 1917, page 171

Mother Earth quakes
Absorbing heavens' tears
Like crystals on her greening robes
Her heart aches
She knows our fears
Within her are endless globes

Even before our first date
You make sure we have The Conversation  
Heaven forbid I should mistake you for a man of honor
That I should have any expectation....
That you know how to treat me
As a friend .....or a lover
As a woman of substance
A lady not a *****


Your immaturity doesn’t surprise me
But until that moment that you showed your hand
I was willing to suspend my disbelief
To give you the benefit of the doubt
To let you set the bar higher
But you succeeded in lowering my expectations
Even further

There's a hidden sweetness in the stomach's
emptiness.
We are lutes. No more, no less.

If the soundbox is stuffed full, there is no room
for music.
If the brain and the belly are burning clean with
fasting,

Every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you run up the
steps before you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier—write secrets with the reed pen.
When you're full of food and drink, an ugly metal
statue sits where your spirit should.

When you fast, good habits gather like friends who
wish to help.
Fasting is Solomon's ring.
Don't give it to some illusion and lose your power.

But even if you have, if you've lost all will and
control,

They come back when you fast,
Like soldiers appearing out of the ground, pennants
flying above them.
A table descends to your tents, Jesus' table.
Expect to see, when you fast, this table spread with
other food,
better than the broth of cabbages.

  ~Jalal ad-Din Rumi

I kissed you goodbye that rainy night
Under the Tree in the Sacred Garden
Not realizing as I left for my flight
I would never see my lover again

The man who swore undying love
Would soon be gone and in his place
A cruel cold coward I never dreamed of
To cancel promises and plans erase

Was Iceman inside you ready to strike
If ever anyone got too close?
Tearing down trust and faith alike
Punishing me  for loving you most

There are different wells in your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that.

In one well
You have just a few precious cups of water,

That ‘love’ is literally something of yourself,
It can grow as slow as a diamond
If it is lost.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,

Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them in a blanket to protect you.

There are different wells within us.
Some fill with each good rain,

Others are far, far too deep
for that.

cherry blossoms fall
trees weeping for their homeland
tears of pink and white

Riding the Sunrise to its zenith
Our destination the Northstar
Gazing at the crescent moon above us
Thinking of friends who are far

Whispered prayers carry on the wind
Telepathic connections magnify emotion
Waiting to ride and make art out of ice
Carving the helix is meditation in motion

Optimistic voice
Cheerful greeting from a friend
Connect and support

Have you imagined in your turquoise dreams majestic mountains and seaside scenes?

Then go West my friend and come to me in endless summer, savoring fruits of joy in sun warmed shimmer....

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.


Kahlil Gibran

I remember when your words were a caress
But now that's gone and you're all business

It's not just warm touch I miss but how you were so present even when virtual
Now you're short circuiting the connection that was physical and emotional,  allowing only intellectual or spiritual.

Affection requires all those elements.....
But you seem to have no patience for sentiment

You say I'm just nostalgic for the romance,
And these are the realities of a relationship at Long Distance.

So I wonder if I've committed to a love that won't last....
Because I do want the romance and won't settle for something half assed.

Where's the open hearted warrior who arose to love's divine quest?
Remember when you promised to treat me like I'm precious?

How quickly you forgot that vow
Or maybe you don't remember how

Because for months despite the miles we were so close
And I did feel cherished....but where is that man my heart chose?

I am broken
               heart and will

the world is broken
               festering and ill

its systems broken
                pillage and ****

careening out of control
                or standing still

from every side the scream
               answers mine, loud and shrill

I choke on tears that stream
               trying to swallow each bitter pill

Cryptic dreams awaken the mind
Telling more than I want to know
Hinting at emotions undefined
The glint of rough gems to be mined

Possible rapture threatens contentment
Disturbing the balance and the flow
Turbulence enters the calm of the present
Subconscious susurrations could prove prescient

The painstakingly built façade stays intact
But the lingering dream won’t go
No use denying its deep impact
As it cajoles me to think and act

You don't even know you failed your spiritual test?
Treated me like one of your side projects –  left unfinished
You were surprised to find my self worth undiminished
You only devalued yourself and now your charade is finished
So take off on some other vision quest

You'll never even see how much you were blessed
Given so much more than you deserve
You could've had it all if you'd found the nerve
To keep the true course instead of swerve
Break promises and pretend you've done your best

Tore open my eyes and showed me you're no better than the rest
Just another coward claiming to be strong
And you proved to me that my heart was wrong
For my fire in your cold world cannot belong
You're not the hero I deserve and I won't settle for less!

Is it obvious?
Trying NOT to fall for you...
It isn’t working

Sun Gate by moonlight
The Ruins below glimmering
Dream light  shines bright  
Ancient magic shimmering

To our souls the dreamscape experience is real
Our Consciousness connected -- together we stand
So much unknown except what I feel
The flutter of my heart, the touch of his hand

We take flight through the mist
As the world below gleams
Adventure beckons and I can't resist
So Mountain Man became the Man of My Dreams

Intertwined
Can't get close enough
Wrapped around me and I around you
Breathe you in... your warmth and scent surround me
Through the hypnotic pleasure of your hands in my hair
A rejoicing voice within sings:
"I'm home!"
My internal senses are certain
Even if the future is not
For this night I am where I have always belonged

Energized

Your voice raising me to the next quantum level

Of one mind with flow of thought surging

Our dual awareness merging

No need for the touch of fingers to connect

It should be too much as brain waves intersect

Catalyzed

Without a drop of green blood

No training to restrain the flood

Connections this deep can be dangerous

Explore the uncharted no matter how treacherous

Shields down, sensors active

Galvanized

Say Goodnight, My love
Come to my shimmering dreams
Dance with me till dawn

Where my softness meets your hard body
Curve and angle merge to one uneven line of truth
Your arms entwine and protect me -even from myself
Melodies pulse in the open window... echoes of our reawakened youth
Savor the thrill of your heartbeat thrumming against my breast
Passion flows and overwhelms me but I come tumbling as you fall
"I'm yours only" you breathe, your eyes blazing with candle flame
Earnest gifts of respect and loyalty in every whisper of my name

I've forgiven you for tearing my heart apart
Pretending to be someone you're not
For swearing eternal love then torturing me with your unique cruelty

I've forgiven myself for believing the performance... the promises
For seeing capacity in you that will never be realized
Wasting my precious life force on someone so undeserving

You never actually asked for my forgiveness
And yet once again, I am giving you something from my heart....
That perhaps you do not deserve....

Keeper of Secrets
     I’m an open book
With Heart Untamed
Eyes that see into you with just a look
Connections made, emotions unnamed
Turn my face to the sun with a new outlook
Remember the joy with no regrets

Painted gold and set afire
Sky embraces earth, eternal
Conversation of light & darkness, serenaded by melodies of awakened life......  do not sleep yet

Arise....walk out to greet the Night

And Even if we miss the SUNset, the afterglow still rewards us for heading out to walk water's edge lit by glowing embers of dusk

engulfed by the flames
the outer shell burns away
the true self remains

Ancient stone vibrating with life sighs deeply in my memory
In my mind my feet still explore
The hidden paths of that fair city
Peace permeates my spirit as I lay dreaming
Of broad greens and cloistered gardens
Shaded courtyards of quiet blooms
Of wood-worked halls and book lined rooms
Her subtle charm, her poised beauty
Warm heart beating even beneath the snow
To inspire , to teach and to sow
In the hearts of all who know her
The seeds of joy, of love, of loyalty
Reaped in measure from us all
We who have walked her cobblestone streets
And awakened to her tolling bells
Even across the miles and years
My soul resonating in time with hers
And I am there again, walking out of mist and woods through slanting sunbeams
Curving around carved towers
And all around and within there is light

Speak to me of light and shadow
Of Strength built on love, tested in countless invisible battles
Tell me of immeasurable pressure forging a diamond out of what had once been simply organic matter....words will not be enough

But my inner eye will see
My soul recognizing a connection that transcends syllables and sounds
Moonlight turns tears into gems shining at the corner of my eye

Unlock the heart and let the light shine through
The Divine Source channeled and refracted
Almost too brilliant to behold

tangled emotions struggle to unwind
unconscious desires surface unrefined
going into the future blind
not knowing what kind of trouble I'll find

feeling the G force at every turn
striving to savor and to learn
praying for calm and contentment to return
hoping from the turbulence will emerge a pattern

new dreams bring the cauldron to a rolling boil
simmering ideas rise and uncoil
fighting fatigue, returning to the toil
planting good intent in the newly turned soil

surrender everything to Him and move on
find forward momentum on the path to be drawn
connect and grow, live life with èlan
face every moment like a new dawn

Splitting my brain in two
Wisdom born from the chasm
Deepening my knowledge of all things made new
Relishing the mental muscle spasm
Learning anew the things I once knew

A natural rhythm to the revolving dance
Heightened awareness charged but serene
Exchanging energized particles of significance
Rendering meaningless the distance between
Fission in fusion refines the solution enabling both to advance

Lost in Paradise
Purgatory without you
Come to my rescue

Could've Been
Almost was...
Lost your chance
To write the story of Us

You don't have what it takes to write a living masterpiece:  
courage, open heart, empathy and trust

I'm the most amazing woman that ever could've been yours...... if you were not so afraid to be mine.

We were to belong to each other and to God together.
But now you will have to settle for less because you could not bring yourself to be more.

It ended sadly
He married some other girl
Good girls finish last

You say women choose
Men can only inquire
But if you stand to lose
That which you desire
Beware the ardent ruse
And show her truest fire
She could be your muse
Do not spark her ire!

Mistakes are the path
Flagstones of experience
Moving forward NOW

The pen is poised in hand engaged
Awaiting rhyme or sage
Thoughts to give it motion
Absent the flow of love or rage
Unmoved but exhausted it lays down
Crisp blue striped sheets turn brown
After what seems an age
Dust completes the task of covering the page
Ideas unexplored, untold emotion
An eternity passes by
And possibilities unborn die

I say I can't sleep
But the truth is more complex
I'm afraid to dream

She lives in the dance
Music moves body and soul
Worlds swirl around her