Tuesday, December 30, 2014

For Longing


Blessed be the longing that brought you here
And quickens your soul with wonder

May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.

May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.

May the forms of your belonging - in love, creativity, and friendship -  
Be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.

May the one you long for long for you.

May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.

May a secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.

May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness 
with which your body inhabits the world.  

May your heart never be haunted by ghost structures
of old damage.

May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.

May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.  





John O'Donohue
Photo:  Peter Bowers












Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Lute music


Let us celebrate

The Earth will be going on a long time
Before it finally freezes;
Men will be on it; they will take names, 
Give their deeds reasons.
We will be here only 
As chemical constituents - 
A small franchise indeed.

Right now we have lives,
Corpuscles, Ambitions, Caresses,
Like everybody had once - 
Here at the year's end, at the feast
Of birth, let us bring to each other
The gifts brought once west through deserts - 
The precious metal of our mingled hair, 
The frankincense of enraptured arms and legs, 
The myrrh of desperate, invincible kisses - 

Let us celebrate the daily
Recurrent nativity of love,
The endless epiphany of our fluent selves,
While the earth rolls away under us
Into unknown snows and summers,
Into untraveled spaces of the stars.





Kenneth Rexroth
Photo:  Peter Bowers







A Christmas Hallelujah













Saturday, December 13, 2014

ring the bells


Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering,
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.  





Leonard Cohen






Wednesday, December 3, 2014

home



welcome home
welcome to the home never left
you have always lived here
will always live here
        this is home, forever...
so stop now
no effort is required
even during all journeys
you have always been here
        this is home, forever...
so relax now
the fire is in the hearth
this inner fire is keeping you warm
the storms outside cannot touch you 
        this is home, forever...
so rest now
everyone loved is right here
we have always lived here
will always live here
        this is home, forever...





Nirmala
Gifts with No Giver
a love affair with truth