I remind myself
A photograph is neither
A moment nor a place
Taking a photograph is neither
In the moment, nor the place
So I put down the camera
Take one breath
Then another
In the moment, and the place
I remind myself
A photograph is neither
A moment nor a place
Taking a photograph is neither
In the moment, nor the place
So I put down the camera
Take one breath
Then another
In the moment, and the place
Diffuse light in dispersing fog
Daisies, clover and buttercups
Stretch into morning
Pastel whispers from daylight skies
Beacon’s warning
Smothered by the mist
So she howls
Into unknowable voids
Lest any run astray
To foul upon the stone
This wall between
The land and sea
While daisies, clover and buttercups
Tremble in the breeze
Kindergarten
Five days a week
On Saturdays
His bicycle, or the pool
Hunting for frogs in the pond
Sunday mornings
He sits
Then stands
Then sits
Then kneels
Sits again
Rites and hymns
Echo in the vastness
And his mind
None of it makes sense
None of it ever will
Warped space
Surrounding one non-believer
In a continuum of faith
The master told her students
This is the path to enlightenment
“But it is so straight”, one replied
True, said the master
“I expected the path to be difficult!”
The straight path is difficult
“How can it be?
There are no mountain passes to find!
No intersections or forks to choose from!
No sharp curves to negotiate!”
Many students nodded their agreement
The master shook her head
The straight path is difficult because
You want to climb mountains
You expect there to be many paths to choose from
You believe there should be sharp changes in direction
One student had sat quietly through all this
Listening while looking straight down the long path
As far as she could see
Finally, she spoke
“Walking the straight path is impossible
For one who seeks insight
From every roadside attraction”
The master smiled
I am your student!
Spinning uncontrolled
Dizzy and stumbling about
Giddy as a child
I wake in the mornings
Mind always in a foggy mist
To find, always
Like a whisper in the silence
Rising to become song
You are there
Nothing so rouses
My faded spirit
As your voice of grace
And compassion
Singing love to this soul
That’s lived in silence
Enveloped in the safe harbour of your arms
The pain
The fear
The anguish
Drawn away with the tide
I drift in the ocean of calm that is you
Until peace washes over me
When I lost her
Some small but integral
Part of my being
Broke away
For a while
It floated nearby
Just out of reach
Yet a lingering presence
The current of time
The drift of the everyday
That Island of her
Receded further and further
Until one day
I scanned the horizon
No Island was there
A single tear fell into the sea
The sea was unperturbed
It said to me
You have learned to live without her
That is all
I understood
I had forgiven her
And myself
For our breakup
I’d allowed the blame
To drift away
Which made me
Whole again
Every sunset
Leads to night
Every night
Leads to sunrise
Ever the flow
Of darkness and light
Orb in a red sky
Landscape a glowing ember
Spirit set aflame