Beyond thick glass fell the ravine
Deeply hewn in cuts of steel
Rough asphalt bottom.
On a ledge hopped a crow and seagull,
One waddling fatly to the other
Hopping and squawking, poking
For hidden treasure just a beak tip away.
Together they dance on the rooftop,
Hop hop hop. They flop over,
Soaring into the blue –
Going to find another gully.

Let your spirit out into your body every day.
Let it not be chained,
Limited,
Obstructed,
Ruled
By expectation.

Let it be itself
Let it be free
Let it be true;
It will discover the truth.

Everything always is -
Doesn’t break
Or choose
Or divide.

It is always there,
Running cannot outrun,
Or prevent it from flooding inward.
Let it flood in,
Sweeping your despair
Your sorrow
Your hopes
Your dreams.

Let it fill you with warmth
With its presence.
Let it blanket your soul,
Swaddle it with peace,
Lay it down in light.

Your tide is rising.
You were not meant to be dammed.

A gong sounds from my mind:
Gong, Gong, Gong.
Struggle no further.
Cease and desist.

My mind echoes, hypnotized:
Gong, Gong, Gong.
This way the winds blow.
This way the future points.

The coming gale sweeps the sticks.
Flying off into the darkness,
One, two, whole thickets.
They bend,
They snap,
They vanish,
Without a trace.
As the river flows –
Inexorable, steady and slow.
They go, as far as we know.
Yet still, we do not know.
Whence do they come,
Where do they go?

The night heron stands at the water,
Unmoving
Unchanged.
She presents time bygone, the eons past,
Borne on the gentle rays of the full moon,
Glittering splendidly in silver beauty,
She is the serenity of stars playing hide and seek,
She is stillness, the very fabric of darkness itself.

O night heron, reveal to me –
The source of your mystery,
I desire your secrets as my own,
The thought, I’d no longer be alone.
Yet she is not one to be tamed,
No, she could not bear to be claimed.
What lies in a cage but woe,
Stolen beauty, a mere shadow.

The night heron stays not till dawn.
I look back for her; she is gone.