Under the Banyan Tree

The wind kicks up 
As it surely will
The fog will part
It’s been so still,
The chickens scratch to pass the day
And likely grain will come their way,
I sit and ponder each of these
And wonder at the steel gray seas
That rises from near your distance shore,
We wait to breathe and grow
Once more,
For time will come and dance with me
Sitting under the Banyan Tree.

Maybe

Maybe I should write about it
Maybe…
But first I need to know
-What is it?-
What exactly is it?
It is something that I don’t want to deal with
Something that I am afraid of
-The emotional content-
The unresolved
The un-resolvable??
Things that might be best left undisturbed
Things that have settle into a manageable place
Sleeping dogs
Snakes in the grass
Best left alone.
Things that might have been best left undisturbed…
The hope was that these issues were old news
That time has healed.
Silly.
Sadly.
And maybe this has happened
But to what extent
And to what degree is the final
Truth, where things settle out once again,
To what degree is it
Acceptable
Manageable?

Anyway the Wind Blows

I’ve never been very good at long term planning.
More likely I’d be described as planktonic
-Any way the wind blows, doesn’t really matter-
Although truth be know it does matter
Because caring sometimes spawns success
And sometimes pain.
The New Year’s goals, the five year plan
Not so good.
Is this how it is for you?
My life’s achievements
Victories and success have been basically random
Walking in the casino of life, I’ve hit some jackpots,
And I am thankful.
I’d guess you might say that it’s important to be ready for the
Random opportunity
And luck seems to come into play
Flat out dumb luck...
I once got a job and kept it, not because I
Was especially good at it,
But because I had “the bluest eyes…”
Don’t ya know?
So how is it, to set a course?
To invoke willful choices?
Is it always this bumpy of a ride?

-P

Broken Footed Woman

It is raining this morning.
Like a woman with a broken foot,
The paradiddle on one side drums the tin roof heavily,
While on the other side a bit more lightly
-Crests and troughs-
One and TWO, three and FOUR…
It is as if the torrents were Pele’s legs
Dancing on her lava island
And all us who reside upon it:
Stomp glide, stomp glide, stomp glide…
Abiding this sweet gift of water
We must surely love the way it is given.

See How It Goes?

See how it goes?
See how beautiful it is?
See how it flows?

See how the evening leads to dawn
And how good is so carefully drawn
From the places dark and uncertain?

See how you find your way
See how it is revealed every day
See how your course will surely play?

See how the road will reveal
And how there is no need to conceal
The love that you are and the way that you feel?

See how it goes?
See how beautiful it is?
See how it flows?

Self-made and Self-discovered Watersheds

So when did it become so hard for you?
Looking back
Searching through the times and moments
Was there a moment or era that your heart came crashing down
When the snug secure facade of childhood broke loose and drifted
When it came clear.
Was it when you learned you had to “work”?
Was it when you realized that not all dreams come true?
That there are weakness and disappointments
Can you find it somewhere hidden? Or
Maybe it is right there where it always resides
Just below the surface
Where you abandoned it, left it un-attended all these years.
~
And so have you found your watershed
That place in time, that self-made reality
That haunts and taunts
That slips into your very workings and says to you most every day:
That there are things that you can do and things you can’t?
Moments of control and times of wild wild chaos
And the reality that reality is too big to touch and embrace?
And that there are limits both self-made and limits beyond our control?
Have you found a time
Have you given yourself that gift
Of peaceful self-awareness
Where you stop the struggle that renders you impossible
And joyfully recognize and accept that
This is how it works?
And so gracefully, peacefully, without regret
And self-flagellation
Become just who you are and who you should be?
Have you found it?
Have you?
And do you know that it’s ok?