life: acoustic & amplified

bright & early

when I ride the nights ragged hours

when my loneliness rages with ruthless, restless, too warm turning 

when heaven is that smudge of light

seen beside the farthest star

when sleep is torn from my hungry grasp

and I am left without an inch of satisfaction 

from the feathers beneath my head

when I open my eyes to the same shade of black

I see with them closed

then I feel the disappearance of my desire to conform

my self is borderless at 3 am

my pretensions dissolve into this dark

I surrender to my grief

as well as to my hope

I swim to the other end of the bed

to cooler pastures

I visit the sheep 

living among the stuff 

down there

I listen as they recited the 23rd Psalm 

to reassure my nervous entering

in that strange world

I hear all the sounds from this new dimension 

my mind takes on the shape of new perspective 

alert to this unusual adventure 

I cry a little

laugh a little

think about the glory of love

the world turns on its axis

I breath free at last

and fly home to dream

😴

Amy Lloyd

you trigger me…Im sorry…please forgive me…thank you…I love you

🌎

let’s do something harder than making ordinary love

something out of this world

something like the sound of the whales

something creating such pretty orange colored, purple striped, green polkadot skies

🌎

Let’s do something in a new and honest way

something angry and triggering

something healing and hopeful

something so powerful the angels stop breathing for minutes at a time

seekers & stars

First

The fish needs to say,

‘something aint right about this

Camel ride

And I’m

Feeling so damn

Thirsty.”

—

Hafiz

I suppose it would have been no different

had I followed a star with kings or philosophers,

consulted the heavens and the emperor.

I would have finally found an ordinary house

in a little hill town with a kid and his mom.

I still would have paused and wondered

if this were really the One, but then

not by the star overhead but the light within

wouldn’t I have known anyway?

So it was that I saw her, maybe forty something,

in the third aisle, comparing red and kidney beans,

no star above us but the cluttered grocery ceiling,

but the heavenly eye in me suddenly awakened,

the treasure chest in my chest slid open

by no wisdom of my own, and I saw, I saw

the Near One, the Beloved, the Shepherding Presence,

here, in this one, now, radiant and divine

in her perfect unknowing being,

God coming to flesh in unmistakable anonymity,

as only God always does, indivisibly near,

in the holiness of the real her of her, and of all of us,

how hidden in the heart of things,

how invisible and fleeting the light,

how dependable.

And without any more sure sign than that

I was changed, in numinous company,

and I went home by another road.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

www.unfoldinglight.net

Covenant

by Tennessee Williams

If you are happy, I will give you an apple,

if you are anxious, I will twist your arm,

and if you permit me, I will be glad to hold you

close to my heart forever and do you no harm.

If I am happy, will you give me an apple?

If I am anxious, you may twist my arm.

And if you would like to, I would like you to hold me

close to your heart forever and do me no harm.

This is a bargain, only two can make it.

This is a covenant offered with desperate calm,

it being uncertain that lovers can drive out demons

with the gift of an apple or the twist of an arm.

What is a small act of pure love?

Isn’t that the ultimate oxymoron?

What matters and what doesn’t?

Who decides?

What really rings the Captain bells in the halls of heaven?

Where are the grandest palaces built?

Who truly owns everything we claim,

everything we hold so dear?

What color will you pick to wear to the grandest wedding you will ever attend?

When do the people who clean the outhouses regain their appetites and feast?

Do you believe everybody’s poop stinks,

yet is a common element of this thing called:

being human?

Should gratitude protect us from life’s hardships?

If I’m thankful do I get to keep what I want?

Why do some people never know hunger and others literally starve to death?

Is it more important to love or be loved?

Can you truly have one without the other?

Which of the following is the more important question?

Why me?

Why NOT me?

❤️

Amy Lloyd

I will be your wise one

I will be your wise one,

led by wisdom and discernment,

your star, not mine.

I am a sovereign of my own choices,

among your royal priesthood.

I offer you my power.

You are the star I follow,

with my eye on your light

every day.

I am always seeking,

never too complacent to ask,

to observe, to discern, to wonder,

looking for your light in this world,

in those I meet,

in my own dark sky.

I am not deterred by weariness,

the unknown, the strangeness,

the settledness of others.

I seek the child, the tender,

the hope, the small

amid the strong and violent.

I bear valuable gifts. This is the reason

I am in this world. I kneel

and offer treasure, every day.

I know my quest threatens

the powers of might, and I am not afraid,

and do not collude with them.

I am not afraid to find another road,

always seeking, open to the new.

Lead me.

_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

   —January 3, 2019

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning. – T. S. Elliot

Carrying heavy things

into the past

just so I can

lay them down on a convenient corner

and so continue on around the bend

without the load I’ve borne beforehand

the next light years ahead

will be easy like Sunday morning

Songs and friends of yesterday

returning to play new verses

versions of ourselves yet to be

coming to the forefront

stages set with beauty

bells ringing all around the glorious trees and rooftops

what’s the next best step?

when’s the celebration?

pop the cork, baby

Let’s start today

look at what you’ve accomplished

in such a short span of life

count the days a complete success

there is no such thing as failure, anyway

look me in the eye and give me your best defense

then, look forward into the shining future

and tell me how much you love me –

let peace descend onto the earth

let it begin

again and again

with me

🌎

Amy Lloyd