Learning to fly...

—Counterbalance

 

Bodhisattva nods, motions 

and says, “It’s ok, you go 

first—I’m last.”

**

Hummingbird, hummingbird,

darting falling evening,

hummingbird, hummingbird,

light is leaving.

**

Letting go 

nothing to lose

lets you 

give all.

**

Without sun light greys

release to breeze,

shimmered leaves

darken green, 

calling shadows 

close space 

for holding.

The chest rises 

wanted spreading 

singing quiet. 

Evening chills.

**

Unfolding

darkness reveals,

often slowly, yet always

a life’s time.

**

When younger, Mondays marked meaning 

mounted and ready to fill minutes all the way 

till Friday closed full to running over—but this

Monday, these Mondays older now wander, 

open fields of questions not even thought

to be asked, till posed by feet or legs starting 

and stopping, starting again here 

then there, till Somewhere 

is reached, 

is declared There 

and 

How Wonderful… 

**

Seeing what I’ve had

all these years, I sit

and let it do again, here again,

all this time,

just because…

**

full moon

porous blinds

morning 

darkness

**

Being at rest with un-rest

lightens…but make no mistake,

un-rest rules—you 

just watch…

**

There are some, mornings like this,

where hardwood floors stay soft, feet warm

and the granddaughter’s voice rises

in the glow of text message

to mend disquieting distance

with echos of the heart…

**

Houses in the east facing hills

glisten, their windows speak

sunlight

the same way words, gifts

of language, emerge

from our mouths—

but windows’ transparencies 

make no claims,

just celebrate…

**

That we unceasingly continue to try

to place lasting names

on every conceivable nook and cranny

of experience

is who we are—simply listening 

to the music, however, of that 

inherently flawed effort

tells us ever more of ourselves

and our worlds than any bunch of words 

ever—hum along, and see…

**

Minutes pass by

swaying bamboo

under blue, blue sky,

thinking of you, and you, and…

when immersed in the throes of 

so much love 

attachment diminishes…

**

The moon shrinks

toward new beginnings,

a waving hand watching all

who glance back and all who don’t,

alike, all present 

just the same.

**

In the almost hurried task

of selecting books to donate,

clearing shelves before my children 

must,

I find scattered throughout

long forgotten roots—

phamplets, slim volumes, 

early efforts, teachers, 

followers, deeply personal 

roots that found fertile soil

in me, 

that again begin to tingle 

that tingling 

I’ve long thought gone.

NamuAmidaButsu

**

Orion fills the horizon south

morning sky 

reminder 

of turnings 

greater

than our own.

**

Off to Australia, New Zealand

waiting with their spring,

while here leaves thin

their color

fades

falls 

to ground

burning

with wanting

of coming

autumn.