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
Covenant
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
life: acoustic & amplified 