It is the present moment,
unblinking and fixed in place.
It is a quiet mind,
being okay with where you are in the race.
It fights nothing
and embraces all things.
Cancer, addiction,
all the things that make us happy or sad.
fear and guilt
take us away
from the glory of this moment
where God has his presence and sway.
Breathe deep and embrace the now
and exhale debris from the future and past;
For God sits and waits right here
with open arms, offering a love that lasts.
The words aren’t coming out-
a kind of mental constipation.
When I think of her,
I’m speechless with infatuation.
Her eyes be jewels from heaven
and her hair be soft as snow.
Her words caress my mind
and make my thoughts glow.
Her patience, that of the moon-
hovering over a restless sea.
my waves ease quietly
under her gaze so lovingly.
her love, that of the sun-
indiscriminate in her tenderness.
she warms, even this bum,
in the radiance of her bliss.
She watches, patient and warm
over this stormy sea.
For she is no woman,
She is hope, shining eternally.
Thoughts come and go,
clouds across a backdrop of blue.
so are my fleeting thoughts,
even, this poem, from me to you.
it’s when i attach myself to them
and the angry things they say
that my life takes a dark turn
and things don’t go my way.
Oh, dear God, release me from my thinking
and take me to the clear blue sky.
For these clouds that come and go
cause pain and make me cry.
next to a beautiful woman,
i’m sitting at the cafe.
an urgency rises up-
why can’t i have things my way?
why can’t love and pleasure
visit me on my terms
easily as the green flourishes
on the deep forest ferns?
why is it that the things which elude me
are the things I so passionately long for?
has nature itself abandoned me
like dead leaves on a forest floor?
All my life i’ve wrestled with the world around me
seeking to gain love and support.
and self pity rises up-
a dark tide, rocky no, ships at port.
Self pity is the most selfish thing
enraptured by one’s wishes and fears-
may god guide to service and harmony
and save me from selfish tears.
The very thing that seeks to kill
is a teacher in its own right.
cancer shuts down organs
but opens the spirit to the light.
gratitude for the present moment
and the loving relationships therein
rise to one’s consciousness
filling the heart with love again.
make a friend of a killer
and you’ll be surprised
of the joy it avails
and the glorious sunrise.