Empires come, empires go.
What seems indestructible, fails,
And crumbles to nothing.
Horror upon horror,
Massacre follows massacre,
Yet somehow good survives.
Aeon follows aeon,
Darkness may seem eternal
But always the light returns.
The unjust appear to triumph
The good trampled under their feet
But Love endures beyond all.
In meditation
You are supposed to
Sit with a quiet mind
And watch the clouds (thoughts)
Pass across the sky
That is your mind
Well I want to know
Who is it that hurls
These thunderstorms
In my direction
And fills my mind
With flashes of lightning
And bolts of thunder?
Who is it that obscures
The blue sky of my mind
If it is not me
Even as I sit and watch
The clouds roll by
And wonder
Who am I?
A houseplant and I
Share the same space
The only two living
Beings in the room
And I wonder,
Does it know
Who provides it
With water
And without whom
It would die?
Then I reflect
Do I?
Without failure,
There cannot be
Success
Failure is the teacher
Whose harsh lessons
Last a lifetime
He shapes you
Moulds you
Shames you
Yet every seed
Needs some shit
For its growth
And the seed
Once planted
Will flower
Only persevere
And hold true
To yourself
Listen. Listen with your heart.
Can you hear?
It is the song of the Stars.
It is the ecstasy of creation.
Listen to the call of nature
In the sound of the whale.
Singing the song of the ocean,
Singing of love
Listen to the sound of waves
On the seashore
They are simply the echo of moon and stars
Singing to you, singing to me.
Listen to the song of love
Love enduring, love everlasting
Sung to you, sung to me
Only listen, and be filled.
Aikido
When the form becomes formless
Then does the mind become mindless
In that great void
Movement becomes dance
Opponent and practitioner become the One.
If we had known
That this was the last time that
We would see each other
What would we have done differently?
Would we have embraced for longer?
Held each other more tightly?
Spoken more heartfelt words?
Expressed deeper feelings?
Let each time you part
Feel like the last time.
Hold unreservedly. Love deeply.
For one day it will be.
One to another
Jump
Jump
Wobble
Oops, I’ve fallen in
The scientists call it
Non-locality
I call it
The Song
They say that
Each and every
Part of the universe
Is connected
You. Me. The stars
The whole of creation
A common bond
Connects us all
Into one Song
That we all
Unknowingly sing
The song of Life
And when you can
Hear the song that you sing
You too will know
That all is One.
In the very centre of the Ring the Seeker of Knowledge stands, arms still raised, but hears no answer, only the eternal song of wind and sea. Twilight, the time of the gloaming, falls, and with it, the night mist rises.
I stand in the shadows, listening, watching, being.
Hearing the world turning.
Seeing the light leaving the heavens
Even as the mists rise from sea and land.
As the world turns, the creatures of the day
settle, slumber and are still.
Now the creatures of the night are awakening,
Their power rising, soon to stalk and to hunt.
For it is the moment of transition,
Yin to yang, light to dark,
One power to another,
And I stand, and feel the world turning.
(Extract from The Seer (of Stenness))
Reflections on life in Poetry and Prose. 