ABOUT HOUSES

Some words from Kahlil Gibran:image

“And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you
in these houses? And what is it
you guard with fastened doors? ………….

But you, children of space, you restless in
rest, you shall not be trapped nor tamed.
Your house shall be not an anchor but a
mast.
It shall not be a glistening film that covers
a wound, but an eyelid that guards the
eye.
You shall not fold your wings that you
may pass through doors, nor bend your
heads that they strike not against a ceiling,
nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack
and fall down.
And though of magnificence and splendour,
your house shall not hold your secret
nor shelter your longing.

For that which is boundless in you abides
in the mansion of the sky, whose door is
the morning mist, and whose windows are
the songs and the silences of night.”

………….from THE PROPHET, written and
illustrated by Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931

For generations now, the songs and poetry of
Gibran have been a clarion call as we were
growing up. Every now and then, I can pick
up the book to renew its timeless guidance.

always with love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette

 

METAPHORS

Another part of my library shelves contain books that
have been sources of encouragement for dark times.
We all have those. Of course.
So, this morning I found an old book that I’d forgotten
was there~ a book entitled, “What Is An Angel Doing Here?”.

Randomly opening the book, I found this:
IP
“There are acts of Love in the Bible
that you hear metaphorically.
Hear them as fact.
Can human beings move mountains?
If they believe they can.
You created those mountains in the first place.

Can a sea be parted?  Of course.
Was it? Do you dare believe it?
Can a human being be nailed to a cross,
die, be brought down, buried,
and then rise again?’
Fear tells you, “We have to temper this,
adjust it to where it is intellectually acceptable’.

As you try to soften truth,
you bring yourselves farther
and farther away from Home
and the remembering of who You are
so that you walk in your narrow world
looking for proof that there really is a God.

(and the angel asks):

Is truth so particular
that there is only one gate to heaven?
There are no gates.
Heaven is inside you.
You are not even the gatekeeper.”

………..from Emmanuel’s Book III,
‘What Is an Angel Doing Here’, compiled
by Pat Rodegast & Judith Stanton.

Back in the day (1994) when this was first published,
I loved Roland Rodegast’s illustrations for those books.
Light-hearted, simple, fun to accompany such
questions.

I have been accompanied by myriads of gods and goddesses
in my stretch of life so far.  Each day more and more
are showing up.

Welcome, dear ones.

always with love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette

NO MATTER WHAT…

image….If you stick it out,if you get up, find a snack, go back to bed, you know that, no matter what, the sun will rise, and another day begin.

SUNRISE

You can
die for it —
an idea,
or the world. People

have done so, brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound

to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.”

………………MARY OLIVER, 1986

Nice to know you might be awake, too, right now.
We do have permission, having sought a way back,
to rest again and awaken to a new day.

always love,
Mom/MimiToni/Antoinette

 

537 PAGES, CIRCA 1990

imageOnly 24 years ago, Contemporary Poetry was prolific with reference
to so much of the past.  Reading it today, I am amazed at the distance
we have traveled in our common understanding of our world, our hope
for change and growth…. even the sense of a direction needed through
which to carve a future.

However, I found a voice there I’d like to remember:

THE WAKING

Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair,
I wake to sleep , and take my waking slow.

Great nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady.  I should know.
What falls away is always.  And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by goIng where I have to go.”

………THEODORE ROETHKE, printed in the
Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry,
edited by J. D. McClatchy. 1990

Timeless, for sure.  And so it goes.

always love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette

A BRIEF TURN

imageIT’S STILL DARK
I came to my desk, turned on the lamp and noticed
that turning the attitude of the screen just a brief turn
created a really new space!

This is the intro to this day, yet unlived and
waiting.

The poem for today:

“DEW LIGHT

Now in the blessed day of more and less

when the news about time is that each day

there is less of it I know none of that

so I walk out through the early garden

only the day and I are here with no

before or after and the dew looks up

without a number or a present age. ”
………………………………………………………

by W. S. Merwin, in his book “The Moon Before Morning”.

I went back to the poem with the intention of repeating
just one line, like an echo. I wanted to select the essence
of newness, to enjoy it.

I found it had to be just as it is, nothing left out.
So there it is.

always with love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette