Take what's for granted.                    
Use it with daily comforts                                                
Watch it disappear  
            
Loose something needed.                      
Become ultimately free                                                    
Cherish everything
            
Looking for the gold.                              
Only the silver appears                          
Better anyways

In times long past, the builder made
a forest temple in the shade
of tall oaks, maples, locusts fair,
each carved stone an unspoken prayer.

There amongst the autumn whispertrees,
I open the old temple gate with ease
and hear the trees sing psalms of solace,
to partake in this painted place’s promise.

To tarry here with trees well dressed
is where I my newfound faith confess,
communing with colors in tailored hues
and with the sacred scent of life imbued.

Looking down
From such great heights
My soul grows wings
Finally taking flight


I am small in the largest ways
I am the sun and all its rays
Life is a fragile, fleeting haze
Until it is seen with the sun’s clear gaze


Grief and gratitude stretch me large
Ego surrenders, no longer in charge

I wake, and I break, and in shattering, I slake
The endless thirst, the hunger that takes
I finally find peace, a break, a cease
To the fire, and find a sweet release

I lose my shape, shattered
In turmoil, deeply battered
Beneath my veil, head bowed and tattered.

I lose my way, defeated
In steps that forget to plead,
In anger blind to its misdeeds.

O Master of the Universe,
I am lost,
Forgotten the path of obedience.

O Ruler of the Horizon,
At Your door, I knock in submission,
To embrace the light of devotion.

The flicking fire in the hearth
pops and cracks a wispy smile
while its embers send their warmth
into the stone house for a long while.

The chimney curls with silky smoke
that snugly signals a cozy place.
The walls are paneled with old thick oak
to safely hold us in wood’s embrace.

This warm retreat’s stout red door
is made and unlocked by my inner eye.
Its stone foundation and sturdy floor
are crafted well for brittle times.

Pull up a chair and join me here
in this secret safest place of all —
it’s in each of us, in constance near:
Take some rest in your heart’s great hall.

On a church, Mother Mary gazes up high
with her saving babe on her stone arm.
On her alabaster face: a cryptic smile
that has its own fine chiseled charm.

While I stand in the old town’s cobblestone street,
my mind sees me in a far distant place.
The visions I see speak of defeat,
a void that devours all grace.

I see myself floating in a brittle wood boat
with sails torn to shreds by the storms.
Frantically I toil to stay afloat,
tossed by black waves which ebb and reform.

Her disk halo of gold shines out in the dark,
glinting to those who sail by.
I ask her: tell me what can give me a spark
to let me soar up into the sky.

She offers no answer in so many words
and just smiles on, stonily serene.
In her silence is where her answer is heard,
a quiet reply — I know just what she means.

The rock of her tells me what I must hear:
No need to soar nor fly nor flee.
Let black tides flow past me ‘til they clear.
Like this old pale statue, just simply be.

in many ways many
           of us are
      compromised
   itemized    labeled    
   priced        bought
           and sold
                 or
   waiting in line to be.

  the only escape hatch
         is inside of us

    do not let anyone
   or en-ti-ty buy you

and do not sell yourself

take yourself off the shelf

   quarantine the virus

              tune in to your
        humanity and
  spirituality

          tune out the
   survival of the fittest
       mentality of the
     dog eat dog world.

Candle, candle, burning bright
in this vast and dusky church tonight.
In its shimmering light I see
few fellow faithful kneel near to me.
Our chant is soft and barely heard
above this fallen world’s absurd
descent into a tyrant’s wrath.
Like those before, await his aftermath.
Therefore we must keep this flame alive
so that hope and charity still survive
‘til the fickle follies of sundown times
end again and new dawn shines.

Hope can never be hopeless
Just like you can never be homeless
Just like you can never not progress
Or just like you can never be loveless
Or heartless or mindless or worthless or soulless
For you are my home, and if you're something,

You're endless.

_M.