Journey of the Heart

  I wrote this poem on the weekend when I was unable to go for my usual weekend stroll in the forest… I am beginning to realize how complex we are, and that a time comes when we can no longer do that which we were once able. Take a Stroll Take a stroll  Through the forest of life As first light of day washes through Feel its power to renew you As it cascades like a fountain 
Bringing joy and serenity
 To awaken the trees
 To greet the bracken
 And enlighten all that is nature
 And all that is good 
Alert to its awe 
Listen for birdsong
 The chirp overhead  
As if soars through branches
 Through a golden array  
Silence is silver as a shimmer of day 
Words sacred fill your heart 
Unspoken and yet shaking the core
 Praise and glory fills your ears
 Angels wings lift your heart
 And glide in the haze
 To cleanse all badness away
 Momentarily you are lost
 The wonder of all life fills your head
 Your soul f...

I had a wonderful Daddy… He made me feel like a princess and worked so hard for our family.  I lost him just when he was going to retire from the Atlantic Coast Line at the age of 64.  Trying to get my sadness and grief on paper was no doubt healing for me.  Maybe when you read this, you will think of your own Dad, also. Daddy’s Shoes They were slightly scuffed and worn and now lay unmoving Just the way Daddy had left them on the closet floor. My heart breaking that Daddy would no longer fill them As I longed for him to be smiling and walking through the door. You see, just a few hours ago, my Daddy passed away My heart was not warned that today from my life he would escape I stared in disbelieve, my heart searching for some peace Why did he have to leave today; Dear God why is this my fate? No one could ever fill these shoes the way my daddy did Toiling hard for our family each day, no matter how weary Making sure I had pl...

A Poem Without Words came to me after an evening of experiencing Devotional Qawwali music by Fanna-Fi-Allah … I felt such bliss and longing while listening to the beautiful music coming straight from the heart of very devoted musicians. When I returned home, still in a state of bliss, this poem came to me in an effort to express that most powerful longing to merge with the beloved.  A Poem Without Words I want to become a poem for the Beloved. I want to set my pen aside and give up the words I have used to aim at my true lover. With every aspect of my being, I want to seduce the Divine. Just like each moment is filled with either sunshine, or moonlight, or darkness, I want to fill myself with whatever experience is being offered and as a gift reflect it back to my Beloved. The delight of warm rain, the silky cool of the mist that comes next, the glow of the sun setting into the storm. I want to take it all in as you watch...

  “First, Be Kind” It’s a simple philosophy, on one level, and one I repeat to my children every day: “Be Kind”. If you don’t understand, try to understand. If you still don’t understand, nevertheless, be kind. One of the most famous chapters in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13, where the writer talks about Love being “the most excellent way”. Verses 12 and 13 say this: “ …For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I think the point that’s being made is that we can’t always understand – we do see (as another version puts it) “through a glass, darkly”, but we can still have faith, and hope and, above all, we can love. The last few lines of my poem are an exploration of this: “Keep kindness close and let it lead; Keep faith with Love and hope, in deed.” Keeping f...

(Trigger warning: This poem is the voice of a reproductive justice and birth advocate as she  expresses trauma that results from the many ways women work against each other in our culture, such as by perpetuating negative birthing experiences, bullying one another, etc.)  I wrote this piece during some painful reflection about female relationships in my life… Relationships that have eluded me my entire life. Relationships that I'm just beginning to dip my toes into in my middle-age.  W omen are mysterious and beautiful and powerful and scary. Our culture has taught us to distance ourselves from one another, taught us to mis-trust one another. What a de-volution from the times when we bled together. How I Bleed I have been afraid of you all of my life. All of you. Even You, the one with a goddess heart, big and deep and gushing with life. The one who says, “all of the women I love know how to bleed with me.” Especially you. You s...

Life itself is an act of great faith… We only need to take but a small step back to see the vulnerability and fragility of all living things- from the tiny field mouse to the proud human and everything in between- we are all dependent and nourished by the gifts offered to us, overflowing from the unseen hands of our creator. Faith Faith is a tiny, grey field mouse Velvety pink nose sniffing, whiskers twitching Foraging in a vast, flaxen field of wheat Under a shaded, sheet metal sky Faith is a weary farmer Ploughing the fertile land Bedding his seeds in the rich soil With scarred, work roughened hands Faith is a downy sparrow chick Nestled in her forked branch treetop nest Neck outstretched, blind eyes shut tight Beak open wide in expectant anticipation Faith is the golden sun descending Leaving feathery streaks of pastel colors Trailing artfully across the sky Tipping the scales that send the moon on the rise Faith is a tender b...

Our house is small, but has many windows, making it feel airy and light… In the summer, the sun is too bright, too hot, and I close all the blinds. In fall and winter, when the days are short and the daylight is limited, I value the hours of sunshine much more. Much like life, at the end of our years we value our time here on earth more, knowing how little of it remains. There is a feeling of joy about this, as well as sadness. And, sometimes, unexpectedly, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.                                                 Winter Sun The winter sun illuminates                                               ...