Dust
Every breath connects me
Countless beings surround me
I stand upon the ground of my family
the millennia of births and deaths
of bones and hopes
of my beloved mother
and creatures I can hardly imagine
2019
Defenseless
I’m tired of who I think I am
Constructed of vaporous dreams
and frozen in time
The always and infinite open sky
beyond conception
asks
What is there to explain?
What is there to defend?
2019
The bird of regret and forgiveness
One day, when my life flashes before my eyes
I won’t be surprised to see you again, little bird
And I will see the countenance of my son
and his eyes of compassion
as you sit shivering and fading
The regrets we live with are often those of omission
Have I responded to difficult and sacred truths?
Have I honored beauty?
Has love clarified me?
Yet somehow, I won’t be surprised to find forgiveness
in your eyes gazing back at me
2020
We are drops of rain
Somehow as we fall from the sky, from the clouds,
from the mist and the oxygen,
we forget who and what we are
We believe we are alone
Our brief ride from the heavens becomes a lonely journey
of self-absorption
We forget that we are among millions of raindrops
whose origins are the same mist and matter
In short order we will hit the ground or the ocean
or a rock or a school bus
and we will dissipate
and become one with the world
One day we will become a plant, a tree,
or evaporate
to ascend and gather as a cloud again
It’s timeless and ageless
It’s out of our dewy hands
and it’s our beautiful existence
2020
The beauty of disappearing
In moments when I forget myself
When I let go of myself
When I have no self
Only the beauty of spaciousness remains
All effort to understand is gone
Only the joy of connection lives there
2022