life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “beauty”

03 Nov 2015

wherever you go

 

Now I understand that there are two melodies playing, 

one below the other, one easier to hear, the other 
lower, steady, perhaps more faithful for being less heard 

yet always present. 
When all other things seem lively and real, 

this one fades. Yet the notes of it 
touch as gently as fingertips, as the sound 

of the names laid over each child at birth. 
I want to stay in that music without striving or cover. 

If the truth of our lives is what it is playing, 
the telling is so soft 

that this mortal time, this irrevocable change, 
becomes beautiful. I stop and stop again 

to hear the second music. 
I hear the children in the yard, a train, then birds. 

All this is in it and will be gone. I set my ear to it as I would to a heart. 

๐Ÿ’ž

 The Second Music by Annie Lighthart
 

 God is my presence of mind 
My anger 

My passion 

My resistance 

God is my breathe 

My movement 

My flow 

God is my present circumstance 

My living 

My future 

My past 

God is my water 

My fire 

My earth 

My loving 

My glory 

My holy 

God is my music 

My melody 

My harmony

My song 

๐ŸŽผ

AL

  

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Faith, find art at pinterest, grace, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, music, mystery | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2015

look where you’re standing ย 

 
Pick a crevice, 

a homey gap 

between stones 

and make it 

your own. 
Grow a life here 

from wind 

rain 

and the memories of ancients 

embedded in limestone. 
The bees will use you 

for their sweet honey. 

The rock will soften under 

your touch. 

You will draw moisture from fog 

and hold it. 

Your presence 

will build soil. 
This is all we have 

in this life 

all we own: 

a flowering 

an opening 

a gap between stones 

for tiny tender roots. 

๐ŸŽ‹

Flowering by Linda Buckmaster 
 

   

 

    

Listen to Eli Young Band sing Even if it Breaks Your Heart 

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Growth, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Patience, Relationships | Leave a comment
26 Oct 2015

so glad to see you

  When itโ€™s time for souls to meet, thereโ€™s nothing on earth that can prevent them from meeting, no matter where each may be located. When two hearts are meant for each other, no distance is too far, no time is too long, and no other love can break them apart. 

    – Jaime Lichauco 

 Then came a moment of renaissance,

I looked up – you again are there,

A fleeting vision, the quintessence

Of all that`s beautiful and rare.

     – Alexander Pushkin

 

 Don’t be afraid to be fully seen, 

for you are God’s Beloved. 

Seek to truly see others as God’s Beloved. 

It is the light that re-creates us.

__________________

 โ€จSteve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net
 

 Sลetsu Yanagi, founder of Japan’s modern craft movement, defines beauty as that which gives unlimited scope to the imagination; beauty is a source of imagination, he says, that never dries up. A thing so attractive and absorbing may not be pretty or pleasant. It could be ugly, in fact, and yet seize the soul as beautiful in a special sense…luring the heart into profound and endless imagination. 
     – Thomas Moore (edited)

 

 May morning be astir with the harvest of night;
Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question,

Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse

That cut right through the surface to a source.
May this be a morning of innocent beginning,

When the gift within you slips clear

Of the sticky web of the personal

With its hurt and its hauntings,

And fixed fortress corners,
A Morning when you become a pure vessel

For what wants to ascend from silence,
May your imagination know

The grace of perfect danger,
To reach beyond imitation,

And the wheel of repetition,
Deep into the call of all

The unfinished and unsolved
Until the veil of the unknown yields

And something original begins

To stir toward your senses

And grow stronger in your heart
In order to come to birth

In a clean line of form,

That claims from time

A rhythm not yet heard,

That calls space to

A different shape.
May it be its own force field

And dwell uniquely

Between the heart and the light
To surprise the hungry eye

By how deftly it fits

About its secret loss.
๐Ÿ’ž
For the Artist at the Start of Day by John O’Donohue 

   
Yes, SI, this is for you…

๐Ÿ’ž

Listen to Joe Cocker sing You Are So Beautiful  

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

 

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, connection, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Happiness, healing, intimacy, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, Relationships | Leave a comment
25 Oct 2015

peep

  
Photo found on facebook

๐Ÿ

The rain breaks, though the sky is still grey, even so

The trees are drenched in golden glow, 

leaves glistening like glowing emeralds, rubies, gold dripping in puddles to the ground,

there neon reds, pinks and oranges screaming for my attention like an extravert teenager in the 1980’s –

It is so beautiful it takes my breath away 

I stop and stare for timeless time, 

drinking it into my soul, 

into my storehouse of these flaming glory-moments

Then I go on with my day, 

full of wonder and hope 

I heard it in your voice this morning

There are good things ahead

๐Ÿ‚

AL

   
    
    
 
photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

๐Ÿ

If we could, 

like the trees, 

practice dying, 

do it every year 

just as something we doโ€” 

like going on vacation 

or celebrating birthdays, 

it would become 

as easy a part of us 

as our hair or clothing. 
Someone would show us how 

to lie down and fade away 

as if in deepest meditation, 

and we would learn 

about the fine dark emptiness, 

both knowing it and not knowing it, 

and coming back would be irrelevant. 
Whatever it is the trees know 

when they stand undone, 

surprisingly intricate, 

we need to know also 

so we can allow 

that last thing 

to happen to us 

as if it were only 

any ordinary thing, 
leaves and lives 

falling away, 

the spirit, complex, 

waiting in the fine darkness 

to learn which way 

it will go. 

๐Ÿ‚

Learning from Trees by Grace Butcher

  ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‚
There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day. 

-Alexander Woolcott

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Blessing, Change, Choice, commitment, connection, Glory, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Relationships, Respect, Seasons | Leave a comment
24 Oct 2015

way back when

  
When I finally arrive thereโ€”

And it will take many days and nightsโ€”

I would like to believe others will be waiting

and might even want to know how it was.
So I will reminisce about a particular sky

or a woman in a white bathrobe

or the time I visited a narrow strait

where a famous naval battle had taken place.
Then I will spread out on a table

a large map of my world

and explain to the people of the future

in their pale garments what it was likeโ€”
how mountains rose between the valleys

and this was called geography,

how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers

and this was known as commerce,
how the people from this pink area

crossed over into this light-green area

and set fires and killed whoever they found

and this was called historyโ€”
and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,

as more of them arrive to join the circle,

like ripples moving toward,

not away from, a stone tossed into a pond.

๐ŸŒŽ

The Future by Billy Collins 

   
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

   

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, connection, find art at pinterest, Life, Miracles, mystery, Reflection, Relationships | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2015

be braveย 

 

 Most of the greatest achievements on the planet are unknown to others – private overcomings, silent attempts at belief, re-opening a shattered heart. The real path of champions truly lies within – the transforming of suffering into expansion, the clearing of horrifying debris, the building of a healthy self-concept without tools. The greatest achievers have found a way to believe in something good despite being traumatized and fractured on life’s battlefields. No matter what else they accomplish in their lives, they are already champions. One day the world will realize that it is much harder to heal a shattered heart than excel at athletics. Go(l)d medals all aroundโ€ฆ
   – Jeff Brown

  
They have told you to be quiet

since your crib,

when your needs, your cry for the divine

disturbed them.

You too have learned the command,

to silence your soul, to silence others.

Stand still and listen: 

what is the voice within, crying out, silenced? 
Rise; take heart.

The Beloved is calling you,

wants to hear your plea,

to honor your word,

to hear what has not been spoken,

wants you to come, 

to ask for what must be asked for

and must be given.
Now, you have been called

and you have been heard.

Whom have we silenced?

Whom are you called to call

to reveal

the miracle of God? 

Rise, take heart.

The Beloved is calling you.

__________________ 
Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

 

  

   
  
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 

So fragile 

With no guarantees 

Of longevity 

Or comfort 

Begs to be lived 

Now 

To be counted for the sake of goodness 

This is the only moment that counts 

Don’t wait 

Take a deep 

deep breath 

of the spirit that is giving it all 

There is only one thing eternal

Say thank you 

For that one thing that will always remain

All else can be destroyed 

But not this. 

What is this eternal gift? 

this one and only gift that remains, that matters?

You already know…

say it together now…

Love 

๐Ÿ’ž

AL

Listen to Gavin Rossdale sing Love Remains the Same 

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, be, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, commitment, courage, Encouragement, healing, Imagine, Letting Go, Life, Love | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2015

fall. falling. fallen. ย ย 

  
Fall, falling, fallen. Thatโ€™s the way the season 

Changes its tense in the long-haired maples 

That dot the road; the veiny hand-shaped leaves 

Redden on their branches (in a fiery competition 

With the final remaining cardinals) and then 

Begin to sidle and float through the air, at last 

Settling into colorful layers carpeting the ground. 

At twilight the light, too, is layered in the trees 

In a season of odd, dusky congruencesโ€”a scarlet tanager 

And the odor of burning leaves, a golden retriever 

Loping down the center of a wide street and the sun 

Setting behind smoke-filled trees in the distance, 

A gap opening up in the treetops and a bruised cloud 

Blamelessly filling the space with purples. Everything 

Changes and moves in the split second between summerโ€™s 

Sprawling past and winterโ€™s hard revision, one moment 

Pulling out of the station according to schedule, 

Another moment arriving on the next platform. It 

Happens almost like clockwork: the leaves drift away 

From their branches and gather slowly at our feet, 

Sliding over our ankles, and the season begins moving 

Around us even as its colorful weather moves us, 

Even as it pulls us into its dusty, twilit pockets. 

And every year there is a brief, startling moment 

When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and 

Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless 

Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air: 

It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies; 

It is the changing light of fall falling on us. 

๐Ÿ‚

Fall by Edward Hirsch

   
    
    
    
 In Fall I saw 

a skyline of tree roofs 

blowing off in 

natural disasters 

of Biblical proportions. 

Every treehouse laid bare 

roofs to be mended in April 

when surplus roofing supplies arrive 

from Mother Nature 

painted bright shades of spring green 

with all the colors of the rainbow 

adorning the mended windows 

as the birds move into their summer homes. 

All in the right time 

not before 

I have known days of the extreme

Both hot and cold 

Pain and joy 

Full and empty 

I have wsited for spring 

I have been healed 

like the trees 

Now I wait for the time 

when the lovebirds come build their nest 

in my heart 

๐Ÿ

AL

   

Nature Photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

Word art found on facebook

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, beloved, connection, find art at pinterest, healing, home, Hope, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, nature, Patience | Leave a comment
15 Oct 2015

grace upon grace

  
Fall colors flash and burn

with yellows and reds,โ€จ orange

 like flags,

their dead or dying leaves

spark pleasure in our eyes,

pour their colors outโ€จlike cash

unmeasured into

yards and eaves and flower beds,

drop their gold โ€จinto the thirsty sky,

fling wide their treasures.

Why don’t I?

What would it be โ€จto live with this 

wild,โ€จ brilliant generosity,

this free release,

this warmth, 

this โ€จdepth of color, 

joy,โ€จ and loss?

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿโ€จโ€จ_____________________โ€จWeather Report

Beauty,โ€จ 

with the precipitation of things

falling out of our lives, 

and in,

as the season’s bright allure,

once accumulated and condensed,

now dissipates,

leaving us the gentle loveliness

of letting go.

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ

__________________

 โ€จSteve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

๐Ÿ

  
   
    
    
    
    
    
 top photo found at facebook/wayne dyer

bottom photos by fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

๐Ÿ

 the law of abundanceis everywhere

we think we need to tap into 

the law of attraction

…think again…

the fruit falls off the trees for us

all we have to do is keep our hands open

๐Ÿ

AL

Posted in awareness, beauty, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, connection | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2015

have some fun! xo

  
  
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Always better, and more fun, together! 

Listen to Jack Johnson sing Banana Pancakes 

๐ŸŒ

photos found on facebook

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Choice, fun, Habits, Joy, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, Smile, soul and spirit | Leave a comment
09 Oct 2015
2 Comments

letting go is a practice…keep practicing… ย 

 I very keenly realise the dangers of hanging on too long for what might not come in the end.

   – C. S. Lewis 
Put Your Records On by Corrine Bailey Rae

Three little birds sat on my window.

And they told me I don’t need to worry.

Summer came like cinnamon

So sweet,

Little girls double-dutch on the concrete.

Maybe sometimes we’ve got it wrong, but it’s alright

The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same

Oh, don’t you hesitate.

Go put your records on, tell me your favourite song

You go ahead, let your hair down

Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,

Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

Blue as the sky, sunburnt and lonely,

Sipping tea in a bar by the roadside,

(just relax, just relax)

Don’t you let those other ones fool you,

Got to love that afro hair do.

Maybe sometimes we feel afraid, but it’s alright

The more you stay the same, the more things seem to change.

Don’t you think it’s strange?

Go put your records on, tell me your favourite song

You go ahead, let your hair down

Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,

Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

‘Twas more than I could take, pity for pity’s sake

Some nights kept me awake, I thought that I was stronger

When you gonna realise, that you don’t even have to try any longer?

Do what you want to.

Go put your records on, tell me your favourite song

You go ahead, let your hair down

Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,

Just go ahead, let your hair down.

Go put your records on, tell me your favourite song

You go ahead, let your hair down

Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,

Just go ahead, let your hair down.
Oh, you’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow

 

    

Photos found at www.pinterest.com 

Listen to Amos Lee sing Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight 

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Choice, Letting Go, Life, Love, Patience, Relationships, Seasons

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