M E D I T A T I O N

Fare well my troubled lover
tossed and turned
on my turbulent waters
the moon pushes and pulls.

These emotions come from without you
Find solace within.

M E D I T A T I O N

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
   That saved a wretch like me!
   I once was lost, but now am found;
   Was blind, but now I see.
2. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
   And grace my fears relieved;
   How precious did that grace appear
   The hour I first believed.
3. Through many dangers, toils and snares,
   I have already come;
   ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
   And grace will lead me home.
4. The Lord has promised good to me,
   His Word my hope secures;
   He will my Shield and Portion be,
   As long as life endures.
5. Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
   And mortal life shall cease,
   I shall possess, within the veil,
   A life of joy and peace.
6. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
   The sun forbear to shine;
   But God, who called me here below,
   Will be forever mine.
7. When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
   Bright shining as the sun,
   We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
   Than when we’d first begun.

-John Newton

R i v e r W a l k

The veins and valley of her dress are draped with tassel-strands of ivy.
On her feet she wears moccasins of moss.
Black beetle brooches and plumes of foliage adorn her hip.Her necklace is the twisted vine.

[46]

I tramp a perpetual journey,
My signs are a rain-proof coat, and good shoes and a staff cut from the woods;
No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
I have no chair, nor church nor philosophy;
I lead no man to a dinner-table or library or exchange,
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
My left hand hooks you round the waist,
My right hand points to landscapes of continents, and a plain public road.

Not I, nor any one else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it for yourself.

It is not far . . . . it is within reach,
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know,
Perhaps it is every where on water and on land.

Shoulder your duds, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth;
Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.

If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of you hand on my hip,
And in time you shall repay the same service to me;
For after we start we never lie by again.

This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven,
And I said to my spirit, When we become the enfolders of those orbs and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?
And my spirit said No, we level that lift to pass and continue beyond.

You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;
I answer that I cannot answer . . . . you must find out for yourself.

Sit awhile wayfarer,
Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes I will certainly kiss you with my goodbye kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.

Long enough you have dreamed contemptible dreams,
Now i wash the gum from your eyes,
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.

Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout and laughingly dash with your hair.

~ Walt Whitman from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass

Golden Door Part 6

Mystic Mango

Down a steep path,
past the nylon laundry line,
I found Him -
ancient and craggy and no longer bearing fruit.

I swung, for a spell, from his outstretched arm.
I sat on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck,
nodding to his constant companions,
the lizards
who dart
and freeze
and strike with tongues.

We called the guada grau
and heard her call back.
Then she circled above, just once,
before disappearing.

R i v e r W a l k

Returning to the River
aka. Magical Woods

Vines drape, drawing a curved alphabet
against the gold orb, pulsing green.

(There are vines here thicker than my legs, older too.)

"What took you so long?" snarks the mosquito, biting.
"Welcome back," whisper the creeper toads.

I stop in awe.
What spirits dwell here?
That have me so compelled?
That call me kin? and why?
but i know, truely,
and am grateful.

Golden Door Part 5

Sometimes the sand cakes to your feet,
heavy as mud, quicksand underfoot.

Sometimes, for no apparent reason
it wears a black veil--
wet and sticky --
that the ocean's laps can't clean.

(Is the shoreline in mourning for it's dying lover, the sea?)

Sometimes you cannot outrun the froth advance
and it makes you giggle you tried and failed.