Shorebird
…While we never know what our work of love and kindness in the world may create ~ in drawing our gaze to life’s horizon, it is through faith that earnest intentions may one day take flight in unexpected, wondrous ways.
Leucadia
Autumn 2018
Grace
Cottonwood blossoms float softly in the morning light beyond the meadow gate
Sweet memories of snowflakes drifting through the winter air
The quiet season has given into Spring...
Hearts open to possibility
Hopes blossom to belief
Inspirations flow with grateful expression.
Like blossoms and snowflakes,
Like new birds finding their wings,
Like stars shining upon our waking dreams,
We find Grace aloft in our sky
Avila
Spring 2019
Dragonfly
… listen wholly of the tender message carried within the delicate whisper of a Dragonfly’s wings
And share in wonder,
watching seeds tossed from a bridge twirling through the uncertainty of air then landing softly in a valley stream.
Then to realize we all follow a dizzying path that only we may share and travel
In order to be joyfully swept into the flow of all that joins us together…
In the sheltered recesses of my heart
Echoes the melody of my earnest prayers
In the stillness of the evening sky upon a mountain lake
Mirrors the awakened depth of immeasurable peace.
And In the welcome embrace of all we are,
Flawed,
yet rich with indelible color,
Is found...
A Dearest Friend.
Fairfax
Autumn 2018
Just Be…
May I call you Poet?
whose lines are richly brushed upon a linen canvas page
drawn from stillness softly held within the depths of your expressive heart.
whose abstracts are painted in shades of persimmon and plum and sage
infused with whirlwinds and eddies flowing gently in the current of your unfolding story.
Perhaps this is how moonbeams feel when entering raindrops falling...
Calm within chaos
Beautiful and yet, wild
Or for the artist,
whose prose is drizzled upon a parchment left dry and thirsting for the nurturing rain.
whose melodies are carried on the Autumn breeze
Both journey and dream
Moving through the sheltering trees
Then laid naked beneath the stormy sky.
In our own way
We are each line and color brushed open by a Poet’s hand
We are each threads of thirsting parchment weaved in tight embrace
We are, at once, both ink and watercolor dancing through the passage of time
Finding awe and wonder in moonlight shining in fallen raindrops...
So we may be still
within the mystery
So we may,
Just,
Be…
Stinson Beach
Spring 2018
Wisdom Trees
Breath of sea rising
Canyon pond in still reflection...
Meadow birds wake
Within the briars
To glimpse Impressions of fading starlight,
Softly falling upon the early mist.
Tears of morning dew releasing
Tender kisses in loving kindness...
Nature’s songs dance
Through the Wisdom Trees,
Graciously standing in timeless grandeur
Before the joyful blessings of the coming day.
Nepenthe
Big Sur CA
Fall 2018
Prayer
Morning sky a painting
Abundance flows...
Harvest moon finding sleep
Breathe...
In stillness,
Share...
A moments blessing
Pray...
Open heart,
Whispered kindness
Held softly
Released,
Then found
On gentle breeze
... Listening
Los Osos
Fall 2018
Cairns
We are artisans
We are the cairns we build
In each and every moment
we are the stone,
the wind
and the sea
that eventually receive us.
For we rise upon what is good and abundant within us
And we dwell in the hope of all that is lifted up
Graciously receiving the light that inspires us.
And blossoming in the wisdom in all that shines down.
Beacons
Fall 2018
Sunlight
How often do we struggle to reach for what sustains and nourishes us?
To let in what brings lasting joy and cheer?
In this way
We are like flowers opening toward the morning light
Or branches releasing the trailing winds
That, at the moment of accepting our need to reach -
We hesitate.
Yet the world surrounds us with timeless transformations...
At each and every moment is profoundly a new beginning
So,
When we recognize we are the new birds at the edge of our nest, anticipating the first moment of flight...
When we find ourselves waking in the early morning
Immersed in the clean air after a fresh rain...
Or when we realize the winds that flow through our leaves are the sincere melodies that eventually help us to rise...
We release from whatever holds us and embrace each moment as a path yet travelled...
A path that won't be lived
Unless we reach.
Unless,
Like the first blossom
On the trees I pass on my way to start the day,
We are fully open to possibility
And grateful for the Sunlight that eventually finds us.
Avila
Spring 2018
Meadow Hymn
Golden hour shines reverently
On stalwart granite faces
Carved of ice and melting snow.
Soft fragrances
of peat and briar
Fill the evening air.
Pine and redwood...
Ten million needles brush
cathedral skies.
Anthem of the highlands.
Charcoal silhouettes
Crown narrow ridge lines
Between this mountain home
And distant shore.
Trees,
Burned deep by fire
long since faded,
Stand stoically before
Crimson skies
blazing on horizon's edge.
Ballad of twilight's afterglow.
First star
Shines bright above
In deepening sea
of indigo and violet.
Fall of summer night.
The revealing sky,
Now the moon's to share...
Symphony of celestial light.
Lupine,
Procession
In purple robe
Harmony to the rising chorus...
Choir of joyful wild flowers
Sing in loving showers of starlight...
Meadow Hymn
Yosemite
Summer 2018
If Only…
We are still but guests in your presence
We are but moments in a grander story than our own
Which, perhaps,
only you may comprehend
Perhaps,
only you may teach us
If only we would make time to be still
If only we might humbly listen
If only...
Berkeley
Spring 2019
The Narrow Trails…
Follow the Narrow Trails
Past toyon, sage and clover
Where manzanita and chaparral
give way to towering dunes
And ragged shores reach openly
To welcome the ever-changing tides.
Where graceful seabirds soar and play...
Kestrel and snowy plover
Where lupine and golden yarrow greet the loving breath of Earth
Rising from the living sea
Lofting white-tailed kites toward Heaven
Where the day's closing light
lingers in drifting clouds
Crimson and persimmon
Where morning glory
and evening primrose,
In gratitude at twilight,
Bow and fold in prayer
Follow the heart-song carried
On ancient mariner's gale
Where mock heather and chamise abide
Beneath the crest of sandy knolls.
Where driftwood shares of its gnarled and winding journey
And seagrass sways gracefully
In the endearing dance of life
And you will find me there
In the whisper of poetic lines
Written in the sand
In the sacred joy of melodies
carried on the wind
In the tapestry of colors
painted sincerely in the sky
In the hope falling gently from the stars that shepherd us through the night.
In this lovely place,
To one day share
When following the Narrow Trails.
Montana de Oro
Spring 2018
We Are The River…
Falling rain,
cascading river
Rushing water
Misty air...
Dance
Embrace
Breathe...
Eyes drawn
softly upon
flourishing fern,
moss
and lichen...
Life’s song flowing,
Nature’s blessing.
Listen
Believe...
All things flow
through
narrow canyons
of our hearts.
Stones of our experience
shape the path
by which we journey.
And slowly,
flow of journey
shapes the stones
upon our path.
In time
we discover,
We are the River...
... and also the stones
Cataract Trail
Early Spring 2019
Shine
Shine
“Your heart’s voice is always worthy of being heard” J
We all have a peaceful place, where sheltering from the world, we are most open to what it shares with us. Where we take quiet refuge so our dreams may find hope and promise. Where we come to realize, as we sift through echoes of unanswered prayers or harbor ripples flowing from tears falling before a broken heart, the deeper cry we must reconcile is the heart that never finds its voice. For though we may fear the heart breaking, or fear breaking another’s... It was already broken. Yet the heart not voiced may never know the wind that would love to carry it… May never breathe the air that would sustain it… May never be kissed open by the morning dew or express joy dancing in loving colors that paint the horizon at the close of the day.
So dare to be open, for you already are. Be open as the depth of ocean is to the drop of rain… as the breadth of sky is to the ray of light… the reach of shore to each grain of sand.
Voice your heart... Shine!
Sing your way into the blessing of each and every day. The way seeds open to the breath of Spring... The way flowers send love into the presence of the morning sun... The way stars reveal themselves when embraced by the evening sky...
Avila Valley
May 2019