Sitting on the pavement
in front of a department store
that people enter for no good reason
mostly because they’re bored with life
and need some retail therapy
Taking the last puff of a cigarette
he bummed off a homeless woman
He had to clear out
It was all shouting and no silence
all ego and no sharing
all reproof and no support
No connection
No feeling
No love
No nothing
At eighteen he has to fend for himself
but he’s free, and that’s a start
They won’t look for him
They won’t declare him a missing person
He could feel the scorn in their eyes
when he walked out the door
Courage and resilience
he keeps repeating to himself
That’s all he needs now
It’s just a chapter of life that’s ended
And a new one eager to begin
with words that keep flashing in his mind:
Be patient in darkness
The dawn is coming

A delectable day in a flawless forest
Trees embracing
with sprawling boughs and branches
yearning to touch each other’s essence
Gracefully green
Profoundly perceptive
Effortlessly effusive
in their undisguised beneficence
A beetle crossing an untrodden pathway
incessantly changing his trajectory
carefree and unsure of his destination
but steadfast in his resolve to get somewhere
A bee fluttering over flirtatious snapdragons
as if he were prudently selecting his bride to be
A nightingale singing her diurnal hymns
recounting a love once lost and another regained
A hint of honeysuckle fragrance meandering its way
to and fro
enrapturing all the denizens
of this sublime fragment of creation
A community of leafy, feathered, winged and petalled beings
united in selflessness, serenity and symphony
Heartening one another with a message of consolation:
Mother Earth is scathed but resilient
and she will pursue her sacred mission to nurture and protect
despite the follies of mankind

The moon is tormenting me tonight
It’s not that it’s new, full or crescent-shaped
or that its glimmer is enticing me with its beguiling grace
messing with my mind and unsettling my soul
It’s the reminder of our alienation
the line that I drew in the sand
and that you chalked on the pavement
that burst the bond we thought was impermeable
and made us drink from a shattered cup
How could such wholeness have become so severed?
We needed no words to reveal our emotions
No colours to portray our dreams
Now even volumes can’t mend the wounds
And colours have faded to the greyness of grief
I am not afraid of being alone
It’s your solitude that plagues me
It’s your suffering that is breeding mine
Your despair is piercing every cell of my being
Your tears are so harrowing that I have none left to shed
I can only cry into the pool of agony that has been bored into my heart
What was has been and can be no more
We were on the verge of mutual annihilation
And pleas to God could not have saved us
For we, not God, were makers of our fate
We’ll reenact this again in lives to come
As we’ve done so often in those gone by
The cycle is vicious and will only end
When the sand in our hourglass has run out
And found its way back to the sea of eternity

Contemplating a desert flower
As she rises at the break of day
Invigorated by nocturnal repose
Nodding gracefully to the dawning sun
And warmly welcoming its rays
as they envelop her fullness
Dry in the drought of a barren land
But relishing every drop to be had
Exuberantly alone
Untroubled in her torrid abode
No trace of lamentation
No yearning for a shaded garden
Serenely expressing her beauty
by being all she is
and was ever meant to be
Blossoming nowhere
Belonging to no-one
Bound by nothing
Rejoicing in her essence
Within the oneness of creation

Useless thoughts
They never really sleep
At night they lurk behind curtains,
ensconce themselves in bushes
and creep under rocks and stones
then they greet you upon waking like unwelcome guests
Their onslaught is then ceaseless as they come and go
like rush hour crowds in busy subway stations
They’re cunning like foxes
and always find a way to sneak in
like the neighbor’s cat on a blistering hot day
when you can’t close the windows
The Buddha said our minds are like drunken monkeys
jumping around, squealing and gibbering non-stop
« I’ll never make it til the end of the month»
« Maybe I should just have another drink »
« I really messed up at that meeting yesterday»
« I wonder if I’m being taken for granted»
« What am I going to wear to that dinner tonight»…
They’re relentless, endless, like cascades
Sadhus counsel the practice of Sadhana
and they do seem to back off
during those minutes of breath connection
but they then return like swarms of locusts
when you stop being and resume doing
It’s part of the human plight one would say
Some boldly assert that they think therefore they are
but I’d rather say I am where futile thinking is not

Why such despair in blighted love?
Hopeless feelings invading us in droves
Gloominess giving way to bleakness
Bleakness sinking into the pits of
self-destruction

Why would a human being do this to another
or even self-inflict such misery?
For what reason? to what end?
Is there something wrong with two souls seeking a secret refuge where they can merge as one?
Is there something perverse in their even wanting to sink together into dry quicksand?

It’s destiny, kismet, karma or whatever that hinders souls from venturing beyond the bounds of Eros
We need nothing, no-one, nowhere else but ourselves here and now
Carnal interests keep the fire alive for a time
I love you if you love me so we can keep on calling it even
But what if one day you don’t or I won’t
The fragile foundations cave in
and the edifice of our relevance collapses
A chapter of our lives has been cut short and wiped away
Eros has had its day!

Philos provides a nice desert island for two beings to share
I love you because you love me - we’re two peas in a pod
We laugh together, pine together, whine together
It’s fellowship, affection, companionship all wrapped in a bundle
But what if the because becomes conditioned by a however?
However your habits, our habits are getting me down
You’re intruding on my territory, you’re stifling me.
So much for Philos....

Then there’s Agape.
Unlimited, unquestioned, unconditional, unreserved
I love you in spite of everything - your flaws, hangups, shortcomings, attitudes, idiosyncrasies...
and I love all of humanity and all sentient and non-sentient beings because we are all an honor to the Creator, a spark of the Source and we will all ultimately return to the oneness from whence we came

Now what would this world be like if Agape was poured generously into everyone’s drinking water?

¡Paraiso, Hombre, Paraiso!

A crisp morn in March, the day had begun
The passage of time, dishes needing done
Her walker in place, staring at her face,
calling her forth, the handles to embrace
She knew that without it there was no way
she could get through the routines of the day
but it felt so present, so awkward there
The things it meant, she could no longer bear
There were countless dreams to share with the world
and amazing feelings to be unfurled
The balcony would be the ideal test
It was there she could build her secret nest
and like a fledgling spread her wings and soar
The time was right and she could wait no more

It was lockdown time in her barren street
She could feel people’s loneliness accrete
So many of them getting on in years
trying to cope with their worries and fears
She knew as the day was soon to be done
that she could rekindle their hearts with song

Outside she looked at the streets dull and bare
But how vivid the setting sun felt there
She swelled her lungs with the evening air
and crushed the silence with her soulful prayer:

Lascia ch'io pianga mia cruda sorte
E che sospiri la libertà
Let me weep over my cruel fate,
And that I long for freedom
https://youtu.be/gI8q6kZ6bCE
In an instant her nocturne pierced the town
and balcony doors opened all around
Thousands emerging in wonder and awe
Their hearts enlivened and yearning for more
She sang for hours with compassion and grace
There were no more remnants of time and space
She had lifted the souls of all who heard
and felt the splendor of what had occurred
At night she pondered over what she’d done
and thanked the balcony and the setting sun.