heartsteps

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e. e. cummings

The earth is all that lasts.
The earth is what I speak to when
I do not understand my life
Nor why I am not heard.
The earth answers me with the same song
That it sang for my fathers when
Their tears covered up the sun.
The earth sings a song of gladness.
The earth sings a song of praise.
The earth rises up and laughs at me
Each time that I forget
How spring begins with winter
And death begins with birth.

Nancy Wood

I will nurse this autumn carefully,
treat its brittleness gently,
smooth its crumbling edges, its weeoing afternoons.

I will rise early and go to it,
wrap it in a soft cloth
and watch it’s breathing.

I will nurture this autumn knowing
it is myself
in a pure and golden form,
and that childlike
soft words will be brought bubbling up
to be recorded in the patterns of leaves
and the low fog coming across the bay.

I will accept this death
and be content with its coming and watch
its coming
and speak of its coming in slow poems
until at last
there will be no more words,
you will hear only the sound of rain as you sleep.

Wendy Smyer Yu

A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her – a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them and pushed gently, thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so fortunate…To be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

Life is short. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably…and never regret anything that made you smile.

Anonymous

We stood before the waving sea
and stared at vast infinity,
and praised the Life that brought us here
to take our ride upon this sphere,
for when we reach the distant shore
I know we’ll be returning,
rich from the journey
rich from the journey.

You never know what’s up ahead.
The tempest rolls and the skies are red.
But, off into the world that waits
between tomorrow and today,
to seek our fortunes and our fates,
driven by this yearning,
to be rich from the journey,
rich from the journey.

and when it’s time to leave the harbour of this dream
we’ll have a heart that’s filled with memories.

So sail away sweet soul in peace.
Hoist your sails into the breeze.
Beneath these stars so hard to read,
Godspeed the winds that carry me
and tell my friends to look for me
for soon I’ll be returning,
rich from the journey.

Kimmie Rhodes

Rich from the journey mp3

This being human is a guest house, every morning a new arrival…a joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all.

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep the house empty of its furniture.

Still, treat each guest honourably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whomever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

Rumi

Gentle me,
Holy One, into an unclenched moment,
  a deep breath,
     a letting go
        of heavy experiences,
          of shriveling anxieties,
            of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
   surrounded by the light,
     and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
   upheld by the unfathomable,
      entranced by the simple,
        and filled with the joy
            that is you.

Ted Loder

sundog

At each moment she starts upon a long journey and at
each moment reaches her end…All is eternally present
in her, for she knows neither past nor future.
For her the present is eternity.

Yet not in torpor would I find,
Awe is the finest portion of mankind.
However scarce the world may make this sense -
In awe one feels profoundly the immense.

Goethe

Sing to Life, a new song!
Sing to Life, all Creation!
Sing of compassion and temper your deeds with kindness.
Sing to all the world and tell of the miracles that sustain us daily.
Yet Wonder is greater than praise, no words can capture it’s Essence.
All words are idols, all ideas snares -
Truth is beyond opinion,
Reality lies beyond thought’s last horizon.
Splendour and majesty leave us speechless.
Strength and beauty are touched not talked.
Let your worship be acts of beauty and holiness;
Let all the world stand together in awe.
Declare among the nations: “All is God!
Maintain the world with justice!”
The heavens rejoice and the earth is glad;
the seas roar their praise.
The fields exult; the forests sing.
For all the world is rooted in righteousness.

Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro