life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the month “February, 2016”
morning blessing
photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
I place on the alter of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
đ
– John O’Donohue
Excerpt from, ‘A Morning Offering’
TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US (US) / BENEDICTUS (Europe)
In the space between breaths
It can be gone
A months worth of words
Erased with a fingertip
A 12, 30 even 60 year marriage over
With 4 words spoken:
I want a divorce
A home with all it’s possessions
Destroyed in a matter of minutes in the fury of nature –
Fire or storm
Life
Love
So fragile
With no guarantees
Of longevity
Or comfort
Begs to be felt
Now
To be counted for the sake of goodness
This is the only moment that counts
The only thing eternal
Don’t wait
Take a deep deep breath
Of the spirit that is giving it all
Say thank you
For the only gift that matters
The only thing that remains
All else can be destroyed
When nothing else remains
What is this eternal gift,
given new every morning?
Love
đ
AL
quote photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com
remember to rememberÂ
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
Itâs the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.
đ
Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert
We are often surprised when love falls apart. It makes no sense to usâhow can something so beautiful turn so ugly? But we should not be so surprised, because few of us are ready to hold love safe. Few of us are trained in the art of love. The entire world has been organized around masks and defenses. Adaptation and disguise are our specialty. But love is a different worldâan unmasked, surrendered landscape that few of us have explored with any great depth. Itâs easy for most of us to articulate concepts, but to hearticulate feelings is another planet altogether. We are only at the beginning of an enheartened way. We havenât
downloaded the ways of the heart. We are learning as we crawl. Best we stop beating ourselves up when it doesnât work out. There is so much left to learn.
đ
– Jeff Brown
excerpt from Spiritual Graffiti
photo sourcs found at http://www.pinterest.com
When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. Â – John O’Donohue
love warriors walk through this world
love dripping from open hands
falling onto shattered pieces of the broken
staining bits of the kaleidoscope of hearts
stepping carefully
slowing down
as the ones who have forgotten to know
appear to do battle
not knowing what they have forgotten…
we are all the light
we are each the beloved..
please let me hold you
touch those wounded places
rub love on the sore spots
until you remember
what you already know
stay here with me
for a long long while
let’s walk together
connecting
hands
hearts
love
as we go
allowing the drip to become
a pour
a fountain
a river
an ocean
as we sail our sea green ship
into this mystic world beyond the stars
beyond the moon
and once again
find ourselves home in the sun
âď¸
AL
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
đ
At the heart of things is a secret law of balance and when our approach is respectful, sensitive and worthy, gifts of healing, challenge and creativity open to us. A gracious approach is the key that unlocks the treasure of encounter. The way we are present to each other is frequently superficial. We become more interested in ‘connection’ rather than communion. In many areas of our lives the rich potential of friendship and love remains out of our reach because we push towards ‘connection.’ When we deaden our own depths, we cannot strike a resonance in those we meet or in the work we do. A reverence of approach awakens depth and enables us to be truly present where we are. When we approach with reverence great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty of things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and the arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace. Beauty is mysterious, a slow presence who waits for the ready, expectant heart.
đ
John O’Donohue
Excerpt from BEAUTY
photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
am i?
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am
đ¤
qII, 29 [Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower] by Rainer Maria Rilke
Crossroads and choices, now is the time to decide which path will lead to the garden and more healthy life choices. One just doesn’t wait until Midsummer and think about growing fresh produce for a salad.
– Old Moss Woman’s Secret Garden/facebook
When an open heart meets an open hand, the result is more feast and more love, enough for a small village to be nurtured from this drawer alone. I see this and recognize him instantly: a soul brother, a lover of life, a father, a friend, a ringleader, a listener, a creative co-conspirator, a holder…of space, of hearts, of possibilities. A man with much to give and more to say, to a yearning, hopeful world.
– Jen Lemen
photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com
bittersweet days Â
SECOND SIGHT
Sometimes, you need the ocean light,
and colors youâve never seen before
painted through an evening sky.
Sometimes you need your God
to be a simple invitation
not a telling word of wisdom.
Sometimes you need only the first shyness
that comes from being shown things
far beyond your understanding,
so that you can fly and become free
by being still and by being still here.
And then there are times you want to be
brought to ground by touch
and touch alone.
To know those arms around you
and to make your home in the world
just by being wanted.
To see eyes looking back at you,
as eyes should see you at last,
seeing you, as you always wanted to be seen,
seeing you, as you yourself
had always wanted to see the world.
đ
Š David Whyte âSECOND SIGHTâ
that feelingÂ
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
â¤ď¸
~ Khalil Gibran
We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn’t approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God’s love. Evil does not belong to God.
God’s unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God’s ever-present love.
â¤ď¸
– Henri Nouwen
âIn all the languages in the world, there is the same proverb: âWhat the eyes donât see, the heart doesnât grieve over.â
Well, I say that there isnât an ounce of truth in it. The further off they are, the closer to the heart are all those feelings that we try to repress and forget.
If weâre in exile, we want to store away every tiny memory of our roots.
If weâre far from the person we love, everyone we pass in the street reminds us of them.
âThe gospels and all the sacred texts of all religions were written in exile, in search of Godâs understanding, of the faith that moves whole peoples, of the pilgrimage of souls wandering the face of the Earth.
Our ancestors did not know, as we do not know, what the Divinity expects from our lives â and it is out of that doubt that books are written, pictures painted, because we donât want to forget who we are â nor can we.â
______________________________
(in “Eleven Minutes”, by Paulo Coelho)
photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com
This..
ThisâŚ.thisâŚ. it always comes back to this; this orange breath, this rusty prayer, this brazen flight, this melting, and glowing, and fading, and licking the rims of the earth and itâs salty darkness and then, just when everything is swallowed by the silence of the soul, this.. this thing, this profound thing; this⌠being born [âŚ]
life: acoustic & amplified 