Into the Dark

not only Orpheus must descend
to reclaim a lost love
to withstand the illusion of
total loss
bleakness blackness
nothing

how mother earth felt
ripped from the heart of
father sun

we weep with her winter solstice
lament
another year of reaching for
union
another inward return to
black radiance

om tara tutare ture soha

Unkempt

a pitcher is poured out

empty

shards of clay remain

a devastating war

famine

wandering

rebuilding

the pouring continues

prosperity

abundance

decadence

violence again

the pouring continues

after you wash

you do not keep the filthy water

what you keep too long

enslaved

rebels

it must move on

in accordance with the pouring

pour your self out,

empty.

the desert wind

casts out gold dust and sand

with equal joy

Reaching man’s estate

so many tears in the moat

broken ladders and shattered armor

a flag flutters high above

the escarpments

a phoenix struggles out of the

ashes

below in the yellow fields

friends are approaching slowly

walking back home

great stained faces

tattered clothes

their bodies carry

relief and

a mixture of defeat and victory

Standing in the open gateway

between the two worlds

the royal fur cast off

naked to the cosmos

a great cheer goes up

resounding across the hills

a flock of doves

take to the sky

Glisten

Loving moment of compassion

extended

long slow belly breaths

full body smile

walking the way

a peregrine glides

recognizing divinity on every

face

giving like Scrooge on

Christmas Day

receiving lovingkindness

like sunbathers at San Tropeil

dying into the magnanimous

beauty of the world

a kind of joyful electrocution

Buddha nature glinting off

glistening

pore