The sky
Like Earth’s deep breath
After the sun bids adieu
And I
Becalmed on the shore
While the summer breeze
Gently lifts stray thoughts
From my mind
A sigh
Let those thoughts
Become ripples upon the Sound
Tag: meditation
The Welcome Flood of Emptiness
Occluded
Clouded
My mind a storm of thoughts
Breathe
Stillness
Empty myself
Of past, present and future
Of fear, desire, need
In the quiet
A softening
Becomes a glimmer
Becomes the light itself
Flooding the plain
Of my existence
Which at first
Seems wasteland
Breathe again
And the waste becomes barrenness
Breathe again
And the barrenness becomes emptiness
Detached
From time and material things
I learn the beauty of emptiness
Which I fill
With this moment
Calm ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #348
In the calm of a lakeshore afternoon
Even the gulls fall silent
Light breezes reveal in relief
Where ripples swath the glassy smooth
Warm exhalations condense in the chill
With measured breaths
Close eyes
Breathe in the peace
Distant buzz grows
Hull thuds against the lake
Casts sprays of white noise
Laughter rises in several tones
Then slowly fades away toward silence
Until the wake finds the rocky shore
Splash
Splash
Another splash
Now stillness
But for the breeze
And my breath
Roots
Thoughts take root in my mind
Distractions laid upon the clear path
Undermine rhythm and pace
Obscure the way
Stop
Breathe
Let go the thoughts
Let go of thinking
Let go the desire for distraction
Breathe
Let in the clarity of The Way
Breathe
The true path revealed
Breathe
Step
Breathe
Step, step
I cannot think the path into being
I cannot follow what is not already there
A Place at Peace
A place of rest
Now at rest
Making intimate new friends
To find such peace
In the stillness of presence
Connected to all things
I breathe
Clear my mind
Become a place at rest
Sunset Descent
In a moment between breaths
Clear my lungs
Clear my mind
Clear my heart
In this realm
Of sunset otherness
The heavy sigh of engines
In smooth air
As a world of cares and worries
Slides by far below
Soon enough to be rejoined
I take another breath
Feel the gentle decline
Back to Earth
Take another breath
Close my eyes
Imagine myself
In flight forever
Concerns and attachments
All suffering
Spread across the surface
Of a small globe
Above which I can choose to float
So when I choose again
To walk the Earth
I may appreciate both
Its suffering and joy
Its love and discontent
Its beauty and ugliness
Its hardship and kindness
With another breath
Empty my lungs
Empty my heart
Empty my mind
Of attachment
To one state or another
For it is the attachment
To a state of being
Which creates the suffering
Not the state of being
“Cabin attendants prepare for arrival”
Nature’s Sutra
rain falls
pittering the leaves
pattering the earth
nature’s sutra
gently chanted
outside my window
inside
warm
and calm
quiet mind
full heart
present in the moment
Fear ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #250
The maw which devours me
Consumes my will
My strength
Is naught but the workings
Of my fearful mind
Consumes my will
My strength
Is naught but the workings
Of my fearful mind
I breathe
Speaking the words in my mind
Over the chatter of thoughts
Breathing in
Breathing out
Displacing the chatter
My thinking stills
So that the maw closes
Upon the vacuum
That is the peace
Of a quiet mind
Without fear
To sustain it
The maw dies
Revealed as an illusion
Created by fear
Linger
Nearly lost
In a palette of greys
The little heron lingers
One-legged in the winter chill
In a meditative peace
I only dream of mastering
In a palette of greys
The little heron lingers
One-legged in the winter chill
In a meditative peace
I only dream of mastering
Breathing the Moment
In an alcove of my mind
Tucked away from memories and desires
I find this moment
Of nothing but breath
The sensation of breathing
Awareness of the necessity
Of nothing but breathing
Tucked away from memories and desires
I find this moment
Of nothing but breath
The sensation of breathing
Awareness of the necessity
Of nothing but breathing
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the past
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the future
Breathe in this moment
Every inhaled breath
Overflows the alcove
Expands into every aspect of mind
Every exhaled breath
Empties the mind
Allowing the moment to flow into it
I breathe
Until all that I am
Is this single moment
Pix to Words 