Poetry with Vision

Undecided

2006-11-03T00:25:00.001-08:00

You come to my rescue
At my hour of need
With head bent low
Arms extended
Open heart,
Asking…

time to get used to
The way I am
now
Take me
As I want to be
Or leave
For I have to be myself
Not another
For you

You expected someone else
And I
Complied
Then, before I knew
It was not possible
Leaving myself behind
Forgetting who I used to be

Friendship was another thing
We were good there
But love is another story…

Chisai

2006-10-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

I found you, small and dirty cat

Out on a street

in an elegant part of Tokyo,

near my home
held by a smartly dressed Japanese couple

I thought they owned you..

a small, ratty, and orange

ball of dirty hair

When they put you down,

I knew that you belonged to no one

I picked you up suddenly

Your dirty hair, your small sick eyes

Full of despair and hunger

Looked at me with sadness

You were so small, a kitten of 3 weeks.

Left on a busy road to die

no home, surviving

on scraps from local restaurants..

I took you to the vet

He cleaned you up for free

and said you were in the worst shape

Sick and full of fleas, a mere skeleton

I thought it was the end

yet, you survived.

Now you are here,

all grown, loving me, trusting me,

purring

next to me...

Chisai,

Name for "little one" in Kanji

Never have I known a cat like you,

Such a bond we have,

you and I

The Lotus

2006-10-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

In existence there is nobody who is superior and nobody who is inferior. The blade of grass and the great star are absolutely equal...Osho

The diamond in the lotus
The soundless sound
The lotus, the most fragile of flowers
The diamond, the hardest of stones

It signifies the strength of life
life can be fragile like a lotus
one petal
after another
falling slowly on the ground
after the glory of the full bloom

The lotus,
a perfect flower
fragile, yet so beautiful
the softness of the petals
the leaves..perfection
it lives in the water
it blooms..
it's magnificence dispalyed
for a few hours
then dies
suddenly

It's a paradox
how can life be both
at the same time

it is in the suffering that we learn
it is in the ecstasy of the moment
that we feel the joy
when we become alive
when we realize
And in living life to the fullest
we are reborn.

Waiting for you

2006-10-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

I see the final day of light
Far into the horizon
Waiting for me
Until the sunset has gone
Trailing behind some far off pelicans
Satisfying my need
To embrace the fallen light
Neatly disappearing
Into the calm dark deep water
into the glittery ocean…

I stand here
Thinking of the times
That you left on that ship
Sailing into the foreign waters
Of distant lands
Looking for something
I cannot remember what
While I stood
Silently alone
Watching
Waiting
For the lone ship
With you in it

How many days has it been
That I passed by the dock
Thinking and wishing
For you return
Your smile and you eyes
Surprised at seeing me
waiting there for you
As always

There will come a day, dear one
That I won’t be standing in that lonely spot
Where the calm water waits with me
And the sweet breath of the wind
Caressing the face
Of the one who loves you so
Will pass by with no one to caress…

Rememberances of Tokyo

2006-10-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

I ride the crowded subways
Full of proudly designed
Steel subway trains
Speeding upstream
Like sharks that hit to stop at each station

More well dressed strangers
Moving, shoving, pushing
In unison
Drop into the cab
Almost falling
As the doors swiftly open and close

The odor of flesh against flesh
Closely touching, grabbing at the pole
Carrying a feeling of other worldliness
Is nauseating at times

Faces, all alike, staring in space
As if hypnotized,
Some in three piece black suits
Some reading the crumpled paper
Some sitting rigidly,arms crossed
Bent over sleeping
Some standing looking past me
As if the only blond foreigner on the train
Is invisible..

I feel strange in this strange land
Of Asian conditioning
Standing there as if
I should be somewhere else
Feeling unnoticed
to dare walk away and hide
Looking at this scene

The subway stations,
Grey and musty,
styled with a pseudo-contemporary décor
remind me of a Fellini movie
filmed in a space station in the forties
feel cold and foreign

I look at the people
walking rapidly to catch the next train
Theirs is a life full of running expectation
Sameness and servility
Caught in a vacuum of conditioning

Sounds announcing the next train
Blaring with loud alertness
Wake up some of the dormant travelers
they stand by the silver doors
waiting...

It is a daily grind
Of coming and going
Running and reaching
To fit into the final destination of the
Cavernous stations
That puzzles me as I slowly get
Up from my seat
Putting away my pencil and paper
After another poem has been born….

You

2006-10-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

You’re always on my mind
You’re always there
Behind my thoughts
Hiding in between
The busy ones that come and go
Then releasing to find you
Standing there…

My mind is restless
It needs more than the thoughts
More than words
It seeks the connection
Form one soul to another
Where there are no words
No thoughts
Just your energy

It needs the look
In your eyes
That tell me you are here
Watching me
Watching you..

Come away from the image
That forms inside me
And be here
Where I can touch you
Where you can hold me
Where can we meet in the middle

I am waiting for
You here beside me
Your warmth
Your care
Your constant attention

Coming of Autumn

2006-10-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

What are these mountains

that beckon me

To step on stones

that serve as pathways

Along the running river

which flows, descending, determined
as clear blue water tickles with cold spurts

Underneath my weary feet...

What is this land

That breathes through my innermost core

A new life with every breath I take
and brings me into a state of meditation
It's the part in me that remembers

When I have roamed these lands before

When I was young, free and easy

Moving with the winds

Coming from the North

With such sweetness in the air.

I see the movement of the leaves

Colors of fall,
red, brown and golden

Bursting in a palette so magnificent
That the very composition
illuminates my reality as a gift
I wish to cherish

I feast my eyes on such natural beauty

Hues of Mother Nature as she dresses for fall
With her coat of many warm enticing colors
Dispersed,

as if it were a veritable oil painting
A scene so magnificent

That it remains in my mind to this very day.

Between Waking and Sleeping

2006-10-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

There is a space
between waking and sleeping
When reality is blurred
to a state
That slows the mind
When all that is there
Seems quite Unreal.
Voices drift in from somewhere,
Sensations dulled but alive,
As half dreams
Gently nudge me
into that awake state
Where reality drifts
Which is a dream and which real?
I move into one from the another
From dreams unstructured
To a seeming reality
structure defined
conditioned ideas
is it reality
Unquestioned..

If this is real
then let me capture it
for a single moment
and open my mind
to find the dreamer
For this is the time

When all
That seems unreal
IsReal.

Words

2006-10-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

Words are like notes on a page

That play a tune

That stir the emotions

Words are like leaves on a tree

That move like the wind

With rippling emotion

Words are like fire

They crackle as they burn

moving into the mind

and strike like a sword

when not used in kind.

Words...

they can heal a child's heart

with just a loving whisper

they can strike an old woman

with the wrong tone..

They can make a heart bleed

with a show of anger

Choose words wisely

For they can be pearls of wisdom
to a seeker

comfort
to a lonely soul

joy
to an open mind.....

Words
so powerful

that creation occurred

with the spoken word

words follow thoughts

and thoughts create reality.

Beneath A Marble Sky

2006-10-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Beneath a Marble Sky

In a fearless world I stand
Alone and daring
Looking down a mountain
Perceiving all
Finding nothing
That can take me
To the heights that you can

I will walk on the sidewalks of life
Looking yet not perceiving
What drives me
What takes me to places unknown
Pretending I do not care
And still moving in different directions
When I know I should turn around
And go for the goal
That is my life, that is you

I look up and
See clouds forming
An image of my own making
Turning, twisting assimilating
And finally becoming
The face I look for in each one
Of the people I meet
The face that beckons me
To think, to feel, to understand
It keeps me transfixed
In this very moment
Beneath the marble sky

A Dreamer's Reverie

2006-10-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

A Dreamer’s Reverie

The dreams I contemplate
Reside within me
As I drift into sleep
A beautiful scene appears
Of distant mountains
Filled with snow
Water falling down the steep
Hills running down
Into a magical pool

Distant flutes playing beyond
Beckon me to follow
The sound of a single tune
Cymbals follow and birds
Come in to add to the
Profusion of sound

It is a calm scene of
Ethereal energy
Pushing me up to the sky
Moving in a twirling fashion
Like leaf going up
swept by the wind

This miraculous place
Is my hiding treasure
Where I come to rest
Where my soul resides
Where I journey to
when I fall into my dreams….

All That is..Is

2006-10-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

Desire

passes through the lips

enters the mind

Pleasure

emotion passing through one's being

Hurt

Ego crushed to pieces

having reveled into one's importance

facing failure

Laughter

Allowing the lighter side of life to permeate

Desperation

Standing in the corner with nowhere to turn

Resignation

Giving up the need to control

Carelessness

Being out of touch

Elation

Falling into lifewithout a safety net

Silence

Allowing the Spirit to have it's turn

Truth

Realization of one's own worth

Compassion

Becoming one with another's suffering

Intelligence

The courage to function without conclusion

Beauty

Focusing on all that is natural

Heart

functioning through feelings

Being real

dropping the ego!