life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

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open sesame

  
Yes
I stretch out

my arms
and bear 

your cross
Your fear

that wells up and overflows
your sorrow 

that haunts
the most awful pain

you endure
and you cause

I embrace
I gather into myself

with open arms
to swallow it

in love
I drown your No in my Yes

to a deeper Yes
The grave itself I smother 

in love
until there is

nothing left
but Yes

and still
even later and always

my open arms

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

 
Hearts out searching our for home
that one place where we belong
it’s a cold dark night my baby
but I have seen the light
home is your arms 
holding me tight

deeper and deeper into the beautiful 
waking my heart to sing this song
fly with me as flames grow higher
passion flaming deep desire
touching us on this dark night

there is hope in this moment 
there is hope in the sky
when days go dark and lonely baby
as long as stars are burning bright
there is hope
there is hope 
they burn for you
oh baby 
I burn for you

There are times when life goes hazy
that place we all fall down
life can be so hard my baby
will you hold the line tonight?
open up your heart and fight 

there is hope in this moment 
there is hope in the sky
when days go dark and lonely baby
as long as stars are burning bright
there is hope
there is hope 
they burn for you
oh baby 
I burn for you

we can do it together
love’s the place where dreams come true
we can do it together 
I believe we can make it
through 

❤️

AL

  

amazing grace

 

 God, save me from the lie 

of an acceptable death,

the heroic sacrifice (too many spent),

a crazed god’s scheme

to sell forgiveness for blood.

Save me from the anticipated gesture,

the deal agreed upon.

Deliver me instead into truth’s sordid lap,

the bewildering perversion

that comes of fear, and death its only issue, 

violence its only hands and feet;

the way we judge, the way we think we can.

Let me not blame this on you.
No: only in the jumpy torchlight 

of the unnecessary flames

of another lynching, another rape,

a war, an execution,

the tragedy of power,

only here in honest horror

do we see your awful love in all its range,

your inexplicable grace unbending,

mercy nailed and crowned with thorns.

Only here in our deepest depravity,

not planned, not paid for, but accepted,

can I know love strong enough

to save me and all this trembling world

not from that but this,

not from the fear of hell

but from the hell itself of fear.

Only in my deepest loss, and yours,

do I see love win

and raise me up to something new

and really alive. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

  
walking by faith
expecting miracles 
we rely on things to come
we hope in what is not seen
we stand on invisible ground
fly without evidence of our wings
we fight battle with foes from another dimension
we teach without seeing the whole vision
we trust what we cannot see with our eyes
we walk on 
knowing, 
for sure, 
we are going the right way
directed by the silence
in bright, beautiful pathways of grace
and dark, eerie forests of fog
somedays we are surrounded by fellow pilgrims, or foes, or strange bed-fellows,

other days we seem to walk alone
no matter
we walk on
or we sit and wait
relying on radical trust
we learn the virtues by living 
because we have truly learned
what we could never learn
by our own understanding 
faith is the victory
everything is grace

☀️

AL
 

 

stay in the moment  

 

I do not wish you riches, not the glow of greatness.

But that wherever you go, some weary heart shall gladden at your smile,

or some shadowed life know sunshine for a while.

So may your path be a track of light,

like angel’s footsteps passing through the night.

                                                                                          -Found in an old church in Upwaltham, England

what if I never see this spot again?

what if this is my last day to see this particular

brand of beauty?

what if I never again feel the depths of the oh-so-perfect imperfection of who I am at this place?

what if I never again have a conversation 

with these polka-dot tailed seagulls?

never see these particular shades of blue and green/grey metallic ocean 

reflecting this piece of sky 

dotted with these aged green mossed stoned edges 

and raggedy, fragile, wisp-clouds?

what if the sun doesn’t ever hit my eyes again with this same blinding glory-glare,

this playtime, fun-time, of winter sun heat

mixed with just a hint of coming springtime chill?

can I drink enough in this moment?

can I permanently record the glorious, salty, smell of this ordinary, extraordinary, morning 

into my eternal bank account 

of favorite things ever?

will I be present enough to this once in a lifetime experience of right-this-very minute-ness,

to hold it inside my bones,

absorb it into the very fabric of my dna,

so that it actually becomes me?

so that, my future conversations

with all the grieving, broke-down, hearts;

all the rioting, joyous, hearts;

all the skipping.a.beat wondering,

or sandbag.heavy wandering hearts;

in this world,

will be informed by this exquisite soul beauty. 

will they be able to feel this exact moment

massaged into the broken hope of their lost wholeness?

will they feel the bubbles of it in the champagne of their happiness?

see the beginnings of the road home within their weary, dusty, blistered pilgrimage feet?

will I be able to allow it to glow, 

flow, 

freely

to every child of God?

will I be able to remember? 

this light is the light of everything.

we are all God’s children. 

we are all God’s beloved children. 

☀️

AL

 

 So that I stopped there
and looked into the waters

seeing not only

my reflected face

but the great sky

that framed my lonely figure

and after a moment

I lifted my hands

and then my eyes

and I allowed myself

to be

astonished

by the great everywhere

calling to me

like an old,

invisible and unspoken

invitation,

like something

in one moment

both calling to me

and radiating

from where I stood,

as if I could encompass

everything I had been given

and everything ever

taken from me 

as if I could be

everything I have learned 

and everything

I could ever know,

as if I knew

in that moment

both the way I had come

and, secretly,

the way

I was still promised to go,

brought together,

like this,

with the unyielding ground

and the symmetry

of the moving sky,

caught in still waters,

 

Someone I have been,

and someone

I am just, 

about to become,

something I am

and will be forever,

the sheer generosity

of being loved

through loving:

the miracle reflection

of a twice blessed life.

© Twice Blessed by David Whyte: from  Work in Progress

  

extra special

  
An extra day —

Like the painting’s fifth cow,
who looks out directly,
straight toward you,
from inside her black and white spots. 

An extra day —

Accidental, surely:
the made calendar stumbling over the real
as a drunk trips over a threshold
too low to see.

An extra day —

With a second cup of black coffee.
A friendly but businesslike phone call.
A mailed-back package.
Some extra work, but not too much —
just one day’s worth, exactly.

An extra day —

Not unlike the space
between a door and its frame
when one room is lit and another is not,
and one changes into the other
as a woman exchanges a scarf.

An extra day —

Extraordinarily like any other.
And still
there is some generosity to it,
like a letter re-readable after its writer has died.

💌

February 29 by Jane Hirshfield

  

 

bittersweet days  

 

 

 SECOND SIGHT
Sometimes, you need the ocean light, 

and colors you’ve 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.

😍

© David Whyte ‘SECOND SIGHT’

now just relax 

  
 

yup!  

  

all that’s left  

 

 
If you have seen the snow 

somewhere slowly fall 

on a bicycle, 

then you understand 

all beauty will be lost 

and how even that loss 

can be beautiful. 

And if you have looked 

at a winter garden 

and seen not a winter garden 

but a meditation on shape, 

then you know why 

this season is not 

known for its words, 

the cold too much 

about the slowing of matter, 

not enough about the making of it. 

So you are blessed 

to forget this way: 
a jump rope in the ice melt, 

a mitten that has lost its hand, 

a sun that shines 

as if it doesn’t mean it. 

And if in another season 

you see a beautiful woman 

use her bare hands 

to smooth wrinkles 

from her expensive dress 

for the sake of dignity, 

but in so doing trace 

the outlines of her thighs, 

then you will remember 

surprise assumes a space 

that has first been forgotten, 

especially here, where we 

rarely speak of it, 

where we walk out onto the roofs 

of frozen lakes 

simply because we’re stunned 

we really can.


Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word `Save'” by Dobby Gibson

 

 I woke up thinking, 

how can I make this day different? 

how can I live in inspiration within these circumstances? 

how can I improve myself today? 

Within this day I can make new choices. 

Better decisions towards my health. 

Towards my future. 

Towards my goals. 

Within this day I can eat and drink the things I know are health-full 

I can read and write the words I know will inspire beauty and love. 

I can think about each moment and choice as a precious gift. 

I can allow the people in this house grace to choose for themselves without judgement. 

I can exercise my body and make it better and stronger. 

I can pray, fellowship and meditate growing in love and intimacy with God and the world. 

I can open my mind and awareness to all the beauty and miracles surrounding me and say thank you. 

I can find home within my heart and bless this dwelling place. 

I can and I will live this way today, 

I can and will commit to this way of living from this day forward. 

Each choice matters. 

I will live this moment well. 

AL

together in a hopeful world 

  
 Yesterday there was a facebook post from Jen Lemen over at Hopeful World http://hopefulworld.org (she’s one of my most admired people on the planet) telling me that it was a half-way-between-solstice moment and she would be burning a fire in celebration and prayer. If anyone wanted to be part…just say ‘yes’ and she would bring us! I said, ‘Yes, please’ as quickly as I could type it!!! 
And so, last night, while I was sleeping…Jen Lemen was doing something so amazing, I get chill bumps every time I think about it!!! She was holding me, and mine, in that space between. 

Yes, there was INTENTION, there was fire, there was singing, there was celebrating and grieving, there was prayer for the world, for everyone who requested it…and, Holy Batman, Batman, there was prayer for ME and all I hold within and without me. 
What a gift! Beauty and all she is! Powerful and humbling! Encouraging and valuing! I feel it all this morning and I say, Thank you, Jen! Thank you, more than I can say! I am so blessed by you and your work!! 💞 

  
I woke up to these words from Jen this morning: 

Writing blessings. Saying prayers. May you be happy and peaceful. May no harm come to you. May no difficulty come to you. May you be deeply blessed. May you take care of anyone and everything smaller and sweeter than you are. May you surrender your power to make space for a forgotten voice. May you notice the earth and how she moves and breathes. May you say yes when you’re called and stay quietly beside until the time is right. May you become love and be love and find love and hope for more love, when others say it doesn’t matter or all hope is gone. #pathofprayerandpleasure #urbanfamily #bliss #mysticlife #blessings #imbolc #brigid #celticspring

🙏🏻

   – Jen Lemen @ Hopeful World

        http://hopefulworld.org

   
 The poet gives you a little stone to stand on,

a ledge, a moment of the world or your own mind

to notice, to ground yourself in,

and from there to leap
maybe to another stone, a similar noticing,

maybe to another star, the light you are made of,

or a beauty pouring itself into you,

or maybe just leap all the way to God.
When you are praying

the smallest thing

can be what you stand on,

can be your prayer.
Any time, from even a single twig

you can leap

and wherever you land will be God.

The leaping is God. 
__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

  
 

Follow and support Jen Lemen @

http://hopefulworld.org

  
art and photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

pay attention to the daily messages 

  
miles come

miles go

some stay a while

some roll on beneath our feet

or our wheels 

barely noticed

driving in the fast lane

with the windows rolled up tightly

in God we trust

unfolding on every bill we pull from pocket

but, the world doesn’t work that way…

or does it? 

peace, 

love,

always seal the deal

walk away free,

changed 

ready to see some new things

every choice brings us to our new place

right here 

right now

notice it

say thank you

❤️

AL

   
    
   

yesterday   

  
yesterday I was born a leaf

a small fragile tender wisp

trembling as I hung on the vine

yesterday I was a gust of air

short lived, but not insignificant 

full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado

yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake

plopping down like a wet goose feather

making the world a magical place

yesterday I was a world made of glass

lying shattered on the floor

hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object

yesterday I was various people

a student, a host, a friend, a lover

feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home

yesterday I stood tall as a tree

shaking, hurting, yet proud, with stubborn certainly 

accepting what winter brings, gently weeping, waiting for spring

❄️

AL

 

   

  

  

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