elias

elias Jul 2012

you wonder if your days were well spent
you now challenge your own decisions
you regret what seems in retrospect, too little

you have helped make the world grow kinder
you have taught tolerance, compassion and duty
you have shown that faith requires integrity

i learned from your teaching, and your example
i see your attentions in each of my intentions
i am steady because of your ever present love

ever we live between yesterday and tomorrow
ever do the generations send forth their dreams
ever will kith and kin, extend those gifts in turn

may your many past days bring you satisfaction
may your many future days bring you challenge

to mother on mother's day
not aware of her wonderful contributions

elias Jul 2012

thin air

celtic mystics found "thin places"
between the worlds
where insight and rescue live

each of us pass near such places
when hearts hurt, when needs are great
when that thin place opens a wee while

then we remember we are not alone
are given life again, are healed
are overflowingly filled with light

sometimes it is the air that is thin
in such thin air others reach to touch us
again with love

so promises are kept
so hope is shared

for a well guardianed brother who receives and gives well
and whose joy is to fly - "to touch the face of god", as did magee.

elias Jul 2012

credo 6 - silence

the clamouring noise of our times
hides the holy - disables our noticing
yet there are off-beats of time we can attend

the clamouring noise of our minds
consumes our attention - distracts our soul
yet systolic beats of thought name our noticings

between the memes of our times
are counter balancing sensibilities
to pause our conviction - to open our hearts

between the memes of our minds
are roots of tradition and wisdom
to complete and challenge our understanding

so to extend our fervent hopes to good purpose
so to embrace the silence - and find blessing

credo considers what is - after considering what is not.
this exploration notices that holy silence is discovered not away from noise and memes
but in the counterphase of our beating hearts.

elias Jul 2012

young and alive

free and wild he roamed the city
ears wide open he relished the din
eyes wide open he enjoyed the choice
home again he refined his appetites

yesterday he looked to tomorrow
not then considering consequence
today he looks to yesterday
not yet considering price

free and mild he settles now
ears plugged he misses the cacophany
eyes closed he dreams of dancing light
home in turmoil he builds his tomorrow.

full of hope he worries
full of energy he waits

a young friend all tangled up in his past present and future.
trying to sort out the eternal questions of relationship.

elias Jul 2012

anytime soon

encouraged by the opportunities
but puzzled by general discord
he is newly confused each day

from a place very near
that yet seems far away
he strives for understanding

tentatively reaching
achingly wanting
he fears his own freedom

perhaps to stay caged is to be fed
perhaps to escape is to be hungry
he considers and worries

caught inside his own dreaming
he waits the arrival soon of his intention

an apprentice arriving late to the place of his own choosing, trying to grasp his own purpose, wanting feet on ground, wanting to fly

elias Jul 2012

enduring atlas

between the earth and the sky
between the world and the abyss
he endures the necessity

always understanding, always between
always bearing difficult matters
he endures the unreasonableness

unable to falter, unable to complain
unable to release without disaster
he endures the unendingness

ever supporting, ever upholding
ever expecting, ever hoping
he endures til the morrow

and enduring, he enables our tomorrow
and enduring, he enables our surviving

zeus made atlas hold the sky from falling to the earth.
he was a titan and so he did it.

like atlas, an associate endured.
a middle manager - a chieftain

elias Jul 2012

credo 7 - death

pogo thought they is we -
when the picnic ends in confusion -
and the lemonade is spoiled by ashes.

aristotle thought courage a great virtue -
death a great adventure -
and teaching the highest understanding.

siddhartha thought life is all illusion -
and that we must practice dying -
until we finally understand.

rumi thought death is awakening -
and with his thought turning turning turning -
he danced into the light of understanding.

jesus thought death is new life abundant -
and that he would make us welcome.

credo considers what is -
after considering what is not. this exploration considers death as avatars advise us.

when a dying friend whispered encouragements, i heard these voices.
rumi the eloquent sufi, who understood the mystery of common things as a dizzy turning.
siddhartha, whose turning from comfort to suffering to understanding, made him the buddha.
aristotle, who made western understanding a turning learning
pogo, the pragmatic alter ego of our generation, whose wit describes our own turning turning.
jesus, whose turning turning things as they were, helped us better understand compassion.
we are pals because we love the same poets.