musing on maintaining joy

diptych, oil, meeting with the young tulip poplars

not maintaining any particular state 

comfort discomfort
ever present
raw and tender
I am willing to feel all the waves

awareness maintains awareness
without my effort
distinctly not what is coming and going

the joy that knows
all is held
and given

we are charged with responding
with care
with life
as the spring bloom of red maples
show themselves through the winter branches,
as the young tulip poplars meet me with their white signal.

yes, i can hear

yes, I can hear
love was known and passed down along
in so many ways

i'd been in the oak tree,
hidden away
unbelieving
waiting
at times frantic in the silence.

what a mystery
to be called and to hear
to be peeled away from the noise
to be held closer than close
in this quiet glory
this problemlessness.

i feel like leaping
as a fire's flame out of the oven
every moment this is possible
every moment there is more levo ! lvoe! love!
issuing from this point of me
of you.

where did i go to let this glory be?

body is glad for the leave taking
it can breathe now
undulate, spin, wiggle, stomp
embraced by quiet glory, 

the body smiles
and continues to express

Like a mountain
like a woman
like an eternal flame
someone's devotional gesture is who i am now.

photo credit: towardtheone.tumblr artist Anahata Katkin's (of PAPAYA) 

the gift

croning woman
falls in love.

agape flowers
from beyond
within.

the expression
as outflow
is
as endless
as the unfathomable depth
of the inside
of the inside.

Lalita's delight

please don't take me, Devi......
too far apart

open my narrows
stretch my fill

but may I remain
as a felt sense,

as myself, to know
Your You

as different from
my me.

may I remain apart
just enough
to feel myself
as Your container.

My devotion is to hold you in the world,
for the world to see,
You,
shining bright in me.


This
I sense
is a shared delight.

collecting honey

bees buzzing

rolling in pollen and sunshine

petaled in lavender crocus.

let such a collecting be my work
to feed and be fed
the honey, the touching
sweet and kind.

a busy collective creation
their joy, our food.

my friendly world

There is that moment
when the email inbox empties.
“honoring the trickle” a friend calls it.

More and more often it is like this
Fewer and fewer messages
And I rest easier and easier
with the silence of my aloneness
And the regeneration of my true desire.

Not counting those generous birthday notes,
Remembered in the heart
That I am here
And more than just me is glad for it.

That makes for a world where I live.
My friendly world.

soul traces

the truth of my soul
celebrates creation and my joining to life.
the gesture of my joining
is invisible,
yet there are traces
to be seen.

things change!

Energy is released as things change!

Lebensfreude 24x24 inches oil on panel