When all of this is over
And we have returned to ‘normal’ ways
When it is once again safe
‘To profit’ from society

Remember this...

We need each other

We need those who look after us
Those who feed us
Those who care for us
Those who teach us

We need clean air to breathe
We need nature to bloom
We need our rivers to run clear
Our seas to be pure

We need to lay down arms
Refuse to fight each other
To think once, twice and three times
About all of our actions

We need art, we need song,
We need humour, embraces,
We need love and family
We need fun and connection

We need to be confident
That who we are is enough

We need not chase
Shallow recognition, fame or fortune

We do not need to oppress others
To gain for ourselves

We need not put ourselves first
Whilst others perish

We need each other

We need to take care
Of everything that we do

We need to know that our lives
Are working towards a greater good

And that through our actions
We make things better for the future, not worse

Remember this...

As forgetting
Will bring us back

To this point

This garden
Has been given to us
What shall we do with it?

Shall we tend it?
Shall we share it?
Shall we make beautiful things grow?

Or shall we plunder it?
Take more than our fill?
And leave it empty, once we have gone?

This garden
Has been given to us
What shall we do with it?

Shall we build shelters?
Invite our neighbours?
Enjoy friendship and share our harvest?

Or shall we build walls?
Defend the borders?
And keep out those, who we do not understand?

This garden
Has been given to us
What shall we do with it?

There’s a full moon in the morning sky
Giant, pale, rising

I stare
Then turn my head
Noticing
The sun
Gleaming opposite

Am I dreaming?
Am I awake?

The moon is pulling me towards it
As if it were home
And yet the sun, urges me to awaken
To live
To venture

I am pulled
By the forces
Of the universe
And I wonder
How many times
Have I cycled
Through birth and death?

Why is it that I feel  
That this is my first most important revolution
My first life?
When I am surely as ancient as the galaxies
As original as the stars

Shouldn’t I know life by now?
Shouldn’t I understand
The ways things go?

We are born
We grow
We age
We die
And
Then

We are born
Again

A voice in my head
Calls to me

'Rest!  Sleep!  Close your eyes!
Stop trying to make sense of everything!
It is all too great and powerful
For you to control.
Instead enjoy the offerings of the planet
Wonder at the magnificence of the greenery
The flocks of birds
The blue skies
And the white clouds

For the universe is much more powerful than you

Though you are its child
You are not its master

Let it protect you
Let is nourish you
Let it love you
Let it carry you
Safely home'

When someone
Dares
To share
Their heart
Others’ hearts open too

And from the opening
Comes
Brotherhood
Sisterhood
Family
Care
Love
And a reason
To love

Out there
Is a magical place
Unsullied by human mess

Pure, paradisiacal
Quiet

Sea water flows quietly
And sand is soft
And healing underfoot

We are half a mile out
Maybe more

And we have crossed
A curious river
To reach
The ray

Although we have lived
Many years in this place
We have never ventured here before

Discovering this new place
Has brought us closer
Together

I signed up
To join the war
Offering myself
To the front lines

I feel the dance
Of inside butterflies
And wonder when
I’ll get my call

Who knows what
The future holds
If I will fight
A courageous battle

Will I live
To tell the tales
Of how we
Fought and won

Or will I falter
Get it wrong
And end up
In defeat

I must take care
Along this road
And use my life
As best I can

Yesterday
My inner demons were disturbed
From their slumber

My tired bones
Became vulnerable
My mind, overrun

I fell asleep
Only to be woken
By the 3am voices

'You have got this wrong'
'You have made too many mistakes'
'You won’t get through this'
'You are going to die'


In the pre-dawn hours
I cling to my sleeping wife for comfort
And I whisper to myself
'There is only love'
'Only creativity
Only love'
But still the demons mutter their dark spells
And I start looking outside of myself
For easy answers

Who will fix this for me?
Should I run away
And start somewhere better, easier

And I try to soothe myself
By chanting again
'There is only love, only beauty
I will not let these thoughts dominate
I will banish them
With my love'

Yet, still they are active
Strange as they are
And I guess I have to live with them
Understand them
Before they will quieten
Or disappear

I am a human entity
Made of spectral dust
And I behave in this way
Thanks to my life
And everything within it

And perhaps somehow
In the dark of that night
I grew a little

I understood myself better
I did not crumble
I just waited
And it did end
Eventually
And I did sleep
And I am still alive
Ready to face one more day
To do battle
With my own life
Again

Without questions
There are no answers

Without answers
There are no discussions

Without discussions
There is no exchange

Without exchange
There is no change

Without change
There is stagnation

Quiet
At home
In love
And loved

We walk
In dazzling sunlight
Under winter blue skies
By returning tide

We cook
We eat
We talk
We rest

I am in love
And loved
And how beautiful
This day is

I can see
That you are struggling
To survive

You are battling
The approach
Of the abyss
But you are not giving up

You are brave
And quiet
Just breathing
Hard

And floating
Held by
Your environment
Your world

I do not know
If you will make it through

I hope you do

It begins with a group
Who stand alone
Doing things differently
Calling for change
As if ‘their’ lives
Depended on it

And ‘we’ laugh at ‘them’
Comment on ‘them’
Make cheap jokes about ‘them’
As if ‘they’ are somehow crazy
Or even, *****.

‘They’ continue
Driven by a true cause
A deeper wisdom
A universal truth

And whether ‘we’ realise or not
‘We’ become informed
‘We’ are forced somehow
To change ‘our’ minds
Whether ‘we’ like it or not

And one day
‘We’ encounter ‘their movement’ once more
Active, growing
Pushing for widespread change

And ‘we’ stand
Separately from ‘them’  
Still observing from the safety
Of 'our' intellectual bubble
Analysing ‘them’ as if ‘we’ had some kind
Of journalistic purpose
To understand ‘them’
And 'their' ways

We know that ‘they’ are right
And ‘we’ have been wrong
And yet still ‘we’ stand observing ‘them’
Trying to convince ‘ourselves’ that still
‘They’ are trouble makers
And ‘we’ can find a better way
To change the world

But still ‘we’ know that ‘they’ are right
And eventually ‘we’ can no longer
Justify
Our actions
The guilt becomes too heavy
And our evidence too weak
And ‘we’ become sickened
By what ‘we’ are doing

Until one day
‘We’ step across the threshold
And ‘we’ quietly, weakly, become
Them’
And those who remain in the ‘we’
Become a minority
And age in isolation
Clinging to the mistaken beliefs
Of the past

The journey
Of true and meaningful change
Is slow

When you are bound
By a thousand ropes
Accumulated
Through lifetime after lifetime
It can become very difficult to escape

Even though you might remove
One or two ropes of karma
Still you may feel tightly bound
Unable to grow or move forward
At all

But as you continue to remove the ropes
Which have been wound
Around the heart and soul
One snip at a time
Unwinding them
Discarding them

Then one fine day  
You will perceive
That their hold on you
Has Loosened
Slipped away
Disappeared

And the suffering
Has gone
And
Joy
And
Freedom

Remain