my expanded dream catcher

 

how should i paint on this canvas the transformative

configurations and choice of color hues of the attire

that i now resolve to wear after the battle that I and

my strong and resilient wife have endured

 

in defying of an insidious and unexpected, potential

upending life attack and challenge, recalculates one’s

priorities in space and time, makes one’s eyes more

keen as to the clarity of what is beauty

 

the dream catcher within, the spirit of my being is now

sprawled wide to consume the winds of life, to capture,

in its sails, the verve that had been illusory, having being,

‘just riding the wind’

 

If you see me out and about, be cognizant that my sails

are at full mast up, the torrent of my spirit’s energy

might capture yours and the moment of our meeting

may be caught in my ‘dream catcher’ sales

Life is beautiful is Love

 Life is beautiful

it waivers not in its natural display

recognizes the presence of consciousness

knows it is responsible for welcoming making our stay

 

Life knows of those that can see

knows of those that can hear and smell

is aware of the feeling in hearts and that the spirits

who flutter about in its aura is but an extension of itself

 

we are sacred to Life’s makeup

integral in its existence, its consciousness

and so being this is the case, we are all part of this

we are the whole of Life we are all one, Life made of Love

cool inspiration

 

despite the cold crisp winter wind,

today I shall smile at the flower and tree

throw peanuts on the ground for the

squirrels and Blue Jays to eat, fill feeders

with seed and whistle for friends with

wind under their wings

i choose you

 

...it is these moments that i must choose to either read someone else's words in writ or express myself by creating with words my ponderings

 

...as you can see what i have chosen and it is this choice that i make at this moment because i wish to touch you and you to feel me

 

...much like when i am walking by a tree or flower that if i do not stop to appreciate them and say hi, it is not them that do not see me or feel me but it is me, if i do not stop and say hi

my spirit tires of grey

 

these days of grey have gathered about too long

diminishing my inspiration in awaken moments

and the once pristine white of early winter’s snow

now, has also turned into a dirty hue

 

this haze has drained my lifting spirit away when

during the warmth and bright of the sun’s ray

seemingly birds would more so joyfully ride the wind

and earthbound critters would scurry about in play

 

i cherish short winter’s stay as do i the Autumn colors

in all their array and always temper even the hottest

of a summer’s day but what i long for now and harken

the wonderment and nascence of a Spring day

kind and gentle is our attire

 

when i reach out to you with an open hand in

lieu of a clenched fist, will you reach out and take

it with the kindness intended, remembering the

gentle caring touch, it wishing to be passed on

 

to feel the soft breeze in lieu of stormy wind,

through the greys seeing the sun rays pierce,

watching verdant fields of tall grass dance,

strong and sturdy trees bending in the wind

 

and so we all traverse in this mundane sojourn

some days full of angst, with sadness and pain

but then juxtaposed with days where kindness

peers through with a smile and warm embrace

 

remember you are not alone, and neither am I,

we are in this journey together so that the weight

and burdens of life are shared upon many shoulders

of a community, to mitigate and assuage the pain

 

the face of strength is in voice not in silence, its

in kindness and gentleness not in vileness and

stoic apathy with an uncaring heart, strength is

the gentleness of water, the bending tree

love nevermore

 

the perils in a day

when in love but can’t touch

can’t smell her or kiss her

let alone can’t see her

 

the heart slowly weakens

it cracks and crumbles

one’s breath becomes shallow

and the eyes swell with tears

 

it is this when one has loved

but life’s trial and travail assails

the spirit, the soul by taking

my love from me

emptiness fills the absence

 

a sunflower when sun’s rays don’t pierce the grays

of the day or the pike and walleye when the river

has been polluted or dried from a dam, birds when

the conifers, oaks or maples have been felled

 

and in the absence of this comfort, this familiarity,

emptiness fills the vacuum, vibrancy of spirit wanes

and the sunflower wilts, the pike and walleye no longer

run with the river’s stream and birds seize to sing

 

it is this i feel, my love, in your absence…

 

grateful for the presence of love

 

three in the morning, try to close mine eyes

to traverse through the dream world but

tears fill my eyelids so am unable to close,

my thoughts are embroiled in lament

 

life does not afford the present, the next hour,

let alone promise tomorrow and so my

reflection is on how the thinning hair on my

head is turning the color of the snow outside

 

if i am given another day, i will put my arms

around my partner, my love, i will kiss her and

will tell her how much i appreciate her, will not

allow the moment be devoid of gratefulness

 

breath of life is love

 

i shall gather my tears of yesterday

and marry them with my smile today

thus my sorrows will be erased so

that tomorrow will be born of joy

 

will breathe in the air of today

so that if tomorrow never comes

my soul shall remember the wonder

of life and sense the love in my heart

light has pierced the darkness

 

darkness for almost a half a decade

now a glimmer of light has pierced through

we must walk into the light and gather its

rays so when and if the darkness arrives again

we will not succumb nor let it take hold

 

tell our children the truth both orally and in writ

of how we turned our heads, closed our eyes

and we let the darkness take hold while many

of us sat in silence while some closed the blinds

to let the darkness in

 

once the darkness took hold our eyes closed

and we could not see the steps of the path

before us, we could not see our hands or the

faces let alone their souls of those who

closed the blinds

 

we must pass on this message to our children

so they can pass it on to theirs and they will

be the forbearers, the carriers of lighted torches

where darkness shall not again prevail

 

 

good riddance

 

today i am sensing the feelings of the sunflower

who in the morning awaits the sun to rise above

the horizon and hover o’er, be touched by the

warmth of its sunray fingers

 

feel a sense of relief like a balloon whose air has

been released and a big sigh of pleasure follows

while it flails about in the azure sky until slowly

and gently it is welcomed back to earth

 

like an eagle soaring o’er the valley, river and tree

and with a tilted crown and nurturing eye set upon

the nest it has lovingly perched on a sturdy limb

below where wide-open beaks await mother’s feed

 

a bittersweet of subtle joy comes o’er me today, for

i feel a relief from a portentous ill that has enveloped

my being in the last four years and has put a strain

on my spirit, my emotions and heart

 

i have shed more than four hundred thousand tears,

have lamented with many ‘Mamasitas’/Mothers,

wherefore, their children have been ripped from their

arms and whose hearts were and are torn apart

 

we’ll now share in our tears and little by little, relieve

our fears, say good riddance to the bastion of pain and

evil, embrace each other at a distance, rid us of two

 evils; an insidious pandemic and one personified   

 

my favorite tree and me

i sit at the rooted feet of my favorite tree overlooking

the pasture where wildflowers surround us like subjugates,

harkening for us to take pleasure in the dance they perform

with the breeze for me and my favorite tree

 

we sit here still in calming peace to embrace, to welcome

the day so serene and give of ourselves, becoming selfless

with all of this

 

we cherish this moment for no other will be the same and soon

the leaves shall fall from its limbs to sleep onto its nocturnal

wintry rest and i will shed my incarnate being to rest upon

my eternal sleep

 

both shall awaken again, my tree with its buds blooming in the same

realm in Spring, me in a different place but for sure embraced in love

that i take with me to my resting space of Spring

my wish for you today

as the day today begins to come to an end

as the day today begins to come to an end

my wish is that, if but only for a moment,

the spirit of whoever you are who is reading

my words, will have witnessed a moment of joy

 

that the presence of love will have touched

even if by slight, your heart, and for that

moment there was an absence of pain, of

anguish and sadness, the presence of peace

 

for i believe that of this presence is what

our next sojourn is made of, that the fiber

and fabric of the universe is of peace and

calm, of joy and love 

human, wildflower within

 

wildflowers grow in all their colors

attracting the eye and smell of the

bees and hummingbird and they

are sated by sweet nectar

 

the grasshopper jumps up to enjoy

the leafy petals and stems that are

tasty to him, sits on his haunch to

nibble

 

and the mantis comes to observe

the wonder of the multicolored hues,

sits back to meditate and cogitate of

all this and why it is this way

 

mother Nature gifts all these riches

to which is her nature and so is the

sun, the wind and the rain for they

are here for each other

 

if only ‘man’ could be in the same

whereby, with each other, be of the

nature of ‘humankind’, relieve those

in hunger, t’if a field of wildflowers

 

appreciate the present

 

i just went outside at 3a.m. to let my aging girl, Jasmine, so she can 'potty' and i looked up to see if i could see the conglomerate of shining stars. I spoke to 'Mamasita' now in another realm, heartfully whispering to tell her, 'Iilove you', telling my brother who left us too young, 'i love you', to a couple of good friends who also left too young, telling them, also, that i love them and i'm thinking of them.. i also and most importantly, thanked the maker of all this, for my life,, the gifts of my lovely wife, my canine children, my family and friends that are still with me in this mundane existence walking about on this rock traversing in space. And so i breathed  in deeply to ingest, to consume the verve and spirit of 'life'. t'was cathartic

 

now let's see if i can transition my body, mind and spirit from this stage of reveries to one of dreams.

i am you, you are me

 

i’ve seen so many faces in my life and time

grateful for smiles but too many frowns

with enough pain to go around

 

have sat in silence to witness and listen

to the whispers of life in attempts to

understand why i think, why i breathe

 

the tree that hovers o’er me has shared

some of its wisdom imparted by the gentle

breezes of the wind only if i sit quiet, still

 

the running stream waves at me to catch my

attention to tell me of what it has seen

through its bends and turns

 

one day i shall put into words what mine

eyes have seen, my ears have heard, my

hands have touched and my heart has felt

 

whoever shall read the writ of my words will 

look up from them, breathe in deeply and sigh

for they will then realize they are not alone

river runs without me, still

 

went to sit on the river’s bank

where i used to more frequently in

earlier days when my spirit needed

to be healed, be rejuvenated and

needing to understand myself, my

place in Nature and the universe

 

sat back on the incline of the bank

listening to the running water clash

upon stones and fallen branches and

the chorus of feathered friends perched

on branches of weeping willows that

hover somber o’er the river and me

 

i look down the one side of the river

bank and notice a pair of empty shoes

skillfully placed together and asked

myself…where and I hope not, that

whose shoes they belong, they did not

decide to leave them behind forever

 

sauntering up to go look closer to the

shoes i feel cool grass blades between

my toes and looking down and i have

no shoes on then realizing i had dozed

off into a spiritual trance forgetting I’d

removed my shoes to feel the earth

 

am grateful that the river doesn’t have

a foreign interloper swimming lifeless

with the catfish on the bottom with the

muck and so i walk over to pick up my

shoes to stroll another day amidst the

somber willows, the river and sky above

love of calm

 

again, i’m feeling a calm, a restful spirit

though the years are running hurriedly past

and my reveries are filled with memories

as i sit here still pondering life

 

the wind is blowing with the years

and the leaves dance about while the

now golden sea of grasses sway like

waves

 

the clouds soaring by now grey in the sky

and denuded trees of their leaves,

the now bear limbs no longer give shelter

to the squirrels or blue jays

 

at dusk, the sun lights the sky with fire

and the moon arrives early making haste

of the presence of Orion and Polaris careful

not to fall into the pan of Ursa Major

 

so in this elderly abode where i reside

i am grateful for the years on this ride

and when it comes time for my everlasting

sleep, i wish my spirit to remember Love

just a stroll

 

i found this path i wish to walk upon

and i would like for you to take my hand

let us stroll amidst the radiance of colors

life is sharing with us

we may step on a stone that is sharply edged

or come onto a large boulder or fallen branch

must be maneuvered around yet we know this

path continues beyond these challenges

with us holding hands while traversing on this

path we feel each other's support and more

importantly sense our pulses, hearts beating

as one and together carry on

let us look up and around, witness the russets

red and gold of Autumn, listen to the orchestra

of singing feathered friends and fauna rustling

about snickering and watching us

there is much to be said about a quiet stroll with

another spirit to share a moment, being present

while gathering visions of Nature's dress, consuming

memories that feed the heart and soul