heartsteps

Now is the time
To climb up the mountain
And reason against habit.
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To renew the barren soil of nature
Ruined by the winds of tyranny
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To commence the litany of hope
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To give me roses, not to keep them
For my grave to come.
Give them to me while my heart beats,
Give them today
While my heart yearns for jubilee.
Now is the time…

Mzwakhe Mbuli

"Golden Journey" by Linda Frimer

When I was the stream, when I was the
forest, when I was still the field,
when I was every hoof, foot,
fin and wing, when I
was the sky
itself,

no one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever
wondered was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing
I could not
love.

It was when I left all we once were that
the agony began, the fear and questions came,
and I wept, I wept. And tears
I had never known
before.

So I returned to the river, I returned to
the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again,
I begged – I begged to wed every object
and creature,

and when they accepted,
God was ever present in my arms.
And He did not say,
“Where have you
been?”

For then I knew my soul – every soul
has always held
Him.

Meister Eckhart

The wonder of water moving over that rock in the stream
justifies existence.

The swish of a horse’s tail – again I am stunned
by the grandeur of the unseen One
that governs all
movement.

I resist looking at the palms of my hands sometimes.
Have you ever gotten breathless before a beautiful face,
for I see you there,
my dear.

There is a wonderful problem waiting for you
that God and I share:

how to keep from fainting when we
see each other.

In truth:

how does God keep from fainting
looking at Himself all day?

Light is moving like a stream, and
the myriad celestial beings
applaud.

Rumi

"Laughing Christ" by Noel Counihan

What is laughter? What is laughter?
It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out
From behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long,
Veiling your eyes and heart.

It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure
That is your Real body – called Truth.

It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight
To embrace everyone and everything in this world.

Laughter is the polestar
Held in the sky by our Beloved,
Who eternally says,

“Yes, dear ones, come this way,
Come this way toward Me and Love!

Come with your tender mouths moving
And your beautiful tongues conducting songs
And with your movements – your magic movements
Of hands and feet and glands and cells – Dancing!

Know that to God’s Eye,
All movement is a Wondrous Language,
And Music – such exquisite wild Music!

O what is laughter, Hafiz?
What is this precious love and laughter
Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound
Of a soul waking up!

Hafiz

"Resurrection" by Kathrin Burleson

Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is
death.

So beautiful appeared my death – knowing who then I would kiss,
I died a thousand times before I died.

“Die before you die,” said the Prophet
Muhammad.

Have wings that feared ever
touched the Sun?

I was born when all I once
feared – I could
love.

Rabia

Francis of Assisi portrait by Nikosz Kazantzakisz

So
precious
is a person’s faith in God.
so precious;

never should we harm
that.

Because
He gave birth
to all

religions.

Francis of Assisi

The sage is illumined

by an inner light
glowing the awareness
of the Tao,

Knowing giving
is the same as receiving,
and truth teaching
is the job of living,

In raising collective consciousness
to new levels of conduct
where compassion is spread impartially,
all inclusively, spontaneously,
to cover all possible scenarios,

Realizing the bad man is but
the good man’s opportunity
to do love’s duty,
instructing while conveying respect,
without judging,

One thought,
one action
at a time,
making the universe
a better place.

Gordon Neumann

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet–
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Let my words
be bright with animals,
images the flash of a gull’s wing.
If we pretend
that we are at the centre,
that moles and kingfishers,
eels and coyotes
are at the edge of grace,
then we circle, dead moons
about a cold sun.
This morning I ask only
the blessing of the crayfish,
the beatitude of the birds;
to wear the skin of the bear
in my songs;
to work like a man with my hands.

Joseph Bruchac