There am I
An Island of consciousness
Standing on an Island beach
On a planetary Island in space
Circling a celestial Island in a galaxy
On the outer rim of a galactic Island in an expanding universe
That is an Island in a multi-dimensional array of infinite universes
Singular
Infinitesimal
Inconsequential
But in this moment
I am
I am enough
Necessary and sufficient
For consciousness has no bounds
While it has no explanation
It needs none
Love fills him
Overflows
A river
A gentle flood
Of love
Washes over me
Over all of us
Fills us
Intoxicant
His smile
Radiant
A broadcast ecstacy
Writ across his face
An unfathomable beauty
Of being
Filled with love
I remember
Being filled like that
Being love
Being grateful
For every moment
In every moment
I remember
Being flawed
Knew I was flawed
Still, I was full with love
I remember
Being in pain
Debilitated by suffering
Still, I was full with love
I forgave the flaws of others
Because love forgave my own
While I worked to repair them
I empathized with the pain of others
Because love allowed me to feel my own
While I followed a healing path
So I thank him
Up on the stage
This beaming intensity
Of beautiful light
As I sing the refrains
As I sway
To the rhythms of the music
To the flow of his love
To this man
This beautiful man
Who is not without faults
Who is not without pain
Yet is filled to overflowing
With love
I thank him
For the reminder
That I can be filled with love
That I can be love
Without first making myself
Perfect
Because I have been
Before
Because in this moment
I am again
I drive past the sign with a chuckle. Then realize I need to turn back for this photograph.
It occurred to me some time ago that paradise is not a place on a map, but a state of being. For me, it seems obvious, that state of being involves movement… though, often, a metaphorical interpretation works just fine.
I paddle out onto the calm sea
Despite the listless surf
Rather, no
Because of it
I love the thrill of catching a wave
The feel of the board cutting through the water
The acceleration as the curl builds
And, yes
Even the tumult
When the sea punishes me
For my errors
But I love too
The moments between waves
The calm quiet introspection
Gentle swells sway me
An ocean hammock in the breeze
Take a deep breath
And another
Feel my resting heart beat
In a state of peace
Here am I
Rapt in my own presence
In time with the rhythm
Of nature
Some days
I prefer these long deep breaths
Over the exhilaration
Of a racing heart
So I paddle out
Sit with my being for a while
Then paddle back in
At peace with the world
And myself
In between
The dead
And the not dead
In between
What is
And what is not
In between
The light
And the not light
There find
The realm
Of possibility
Seen only
By those who conceive
A world without absolutes
Where dreamers dream
Between sleeping
And waking
While the world flows
Between being
And non-being
In the wakening hours we dance
Between self-remembering
And self-forgetting
This is the ebb and flood
Between the conscious
And the unconscious
Like the darkness
And the light
In eternal conflict
Only the master sees
The dominance of either
Is true darkness
While the light burns brightest
In those who come to know
The balance of both
Embers
spark of life
renews within the valley
Enveloped
in the warm stone
of canyon walls
Emerging
as if from the womb
new life partum
Embraced
by the Earth
matron of time and being
Evermore
the cycle plays and plays again
birth, life, death, rebirth
In the bright sun of day
I am shadow
A mask without a face
A smile without a reason
Laughter without glee
A sign of existence
Without presence
So I breathe
Bury my hand
In the hot sand
Shout out the pain
Of heat and grief
And emptiness
Give voice
To the being
Which once cast
The shadow
Until the voice
Becomes being
A vessel
For the light
The pain and grief
And emptiness
Become the shadow
No greater metaphor
To my reason for being
Than a remote highway
Through open country
I’ve not yet explored
With the tools in hand
To tell the tales
Of my discoveries
More and more
Discovery comes
As reflections of my self
In the landscape of existence
My presence in this moment
Is but a wisp of a cloud
In a windswept sky
A drop of rain
In the eons of torrents
Which gouge a canyon
From a plateau of stone
Try as I might
I cannot grasp
The monumental meaningless
Of my own existence
Leaving me to acknowledge
The incalculable significance
Of drawing a single breath
Here am I
An infinitesimal ephemeral wisp
In the cloud-strewn sky
Of existence
Claiming my glorious place
In the magnificence
As if a passing moment in eternity
Were eternity itself
Pix to Words 