We Cannot Help But Howl

Like a wolf pack howling in the silence of a cold arctic darkness

There is no hope whatsoever, therefore we resolve to try all the harder

There is no chance for survival but still, we must choose life

The end is always very near but, quite naturally, we decide to work instead of dance

Things cannot possibly turn out, but we must still try and arrange them

There can be no happy ending but we consciously decide to ignore that

Though many are taken every day, we who remain always continue on

The goal remains forever unattainable so our only victory is in the struggle

Despite the inescapable certainty, we play on against the overwhelming odds

There is no far-off light to seek yet we still grope through the darkness

Our feet will never feel the bottom but it does not stop our swimming

Though no spirit can ever hear us we cannot help but sing

Tossed in this swirling entropy we do not abandon ourselves to chaos and confusion

We know not where we come from, yet, we must struggle before we return

We choose to live despite an implacable end leading to an unknowable

Blackness and mystery surround us, but we strive out of more than just simple fear

Despite the meaninglessness of the infinite emptiness, we retain a sense of purpose

Though the nights are cold and the winters long, somehow we look to the Spring

Casting off an imaginary heaven we nevertheless cannot lose the lonely faith that sustains us

No matter that we are lost and wet and hungry, there is no child who is a stranger

Even as we are being overtaken there is no quenching our need to understand

Right as we disappear beneath the wheel, we are still waving the others onward

We dare to peer into the blackness and not give in to empty pleasure seeking

No warmly lit and peaceful shelter awaits us, and yet we must still travel on

It cannot be otherwise, or we would be most certainly far worse than simply lost

Though we find no evidence of worthiness from our efforts, they can never cease

The Tao That

the Tao that is spoken cannot be heard

the Tao that is grasped still feels like the air

the Tao that is shared cannot be communicated

the Tao once observed is thereby forever altered

the Tao that is finally written

does not contain a single word

the Tao that is measured is thus resized again

the Tao once forgotten returns to its course

the Tao that is captured acts as does water

it reveals only the shape of its container

the Tao glimpsed as mere shadow

yields hints of its true nature

the Tao given off by events unrelated

forms the overtones stored within an echo

the Tao once grasped

evaporates quickly into nonsense

the Tao that is denied

accepts each and every argument

the Tao once visualized

dissolves like a dream upon reflection

the Tao exists not within us

but can fill our minds just the same

the Tao truly described

has no real outline

the Tao pursued

joins the moving shadows

the Tao defined

has no meaning

the Tao that is realized

lights our path without a source

the Tao imagined

is a dream of dreaming

the Tao ignored

is perfectly reflected

the Tao defiled

soils only the observer

the Tao once forsaken

creeps back from every side

the Tao clung to

does not remain on the fingers

the Tao not completed

gains eternal life

the Tao not considered

is freed to be revealed

the Tao not isolated

keeps to itself

the Tao not evaluated

retains its full potential

the Tao is not dilated

yet expands with the universe

the Tao not distanced

remains far away

the Tao not visible

is much easier to see

the Tao not called upon

gives forth a flood of answers

the Tao not present

outlines the entire truth within

the Tao not reconsidered

is considered once too often

the Tao not focused directly upon

reveals its minutest details

the Tao seen as shattered

is identical in each smaller piece

the Tao that is analyzed

is an unsorted and incomplete fossil

the Tao that is broken

is perfect in all respects

the Tao that bubbles from within

has a source outside the spring

the Tao that is filtered

gains impurities but loses nothing

the Tao that is polarized

is the same on either side of the filter

the Tao that fills the night sky

travels outside the speed of light

the Tao that covers everything

drifts down in spaces between the snowflakes

the Tao that lasts forever

never existed as it struck you

the Tao of uncountable infinities

exists outside of The Life Force

the Tao effects that we see

occur without actions that we could measure

the Tao that we will never know

we ignore at our utmost peril

the Tao that stretches back beyond forever

recurs completely in each smallest instant

Neither Cause

Neither a cause nor a working

simply a rendering of meaning

not seen but reflected

like an image in the water,

once observed dissolving into wavelets

neither a loss nor a gain

outlining without any detail

working with the sunset

and just as quickly, fades away

neither in my hand nor of my mind

was that a shadow of some reflection?

neither a joining nor a parting

yet providing subtle background harmony

that might amplify some reality

neither quite alone nor a part of things we see

flowing well outside our event horizon

neither with one nor against another

vast indifference of the void

emptiness that our minds can never fill

neither part of life nor facet of death

far more than we will ever know

and infinitely less than we always feel

neither with the rain nor in the clouds

builds like lightning

and strikes as rainbows

neither close at hand nor ever far away

even when within our minds,

always remaining to be seen

neither hope for the religions nor friend of any science

might laugh had it our reason

less a guiding light than a sourceless shadow

more a riff than an algorithm

like the emergent tones from good harmony

or windsong through distant trees

Undefined Is Not

the undefined is not the autumn breeze

that sets the blazing leaves to sighing

the undefined is not the things we say

or even in our way of thinking

the undefined is not a friend to all

yet it can bear us no ill will

the undefined is not outside of us

but does not spring from within

the undefined is not attenuated

by the expansion of the universe

the undefined is not in the words we read

for it cannot be written

the undefined is not a willful force

but flows as surely as does water down a hill

the undefined is not a thing that can be bought or sold

rather is a boundless resource for anyone to use

the undefined is not an action

still it is the cause of many things

the undefined is not the people's friend

but they prosper in its alignment

the undefined is not a particle with mass

yet it acts with a force all of its own

the undefined is not the sky's reflection caught

in the smallest brook

the undefined is not in motion

but simply always fills this expanding universe

the undefined is not religious

for the religious do not seek it

the undefined is not a salmon’s gleaming blur

in its spawning creek

the undefined is not a structure

however, it is complete, without a form

the undefined is not a creature

yet we may not know the difference

the undefined is not simply the unknown

for we may have glimpsed it often as we passed

the undefined is not the tinkling of a stream

but somehow it is wrapped about that sound

the undefined is not this loneliness that we cannot escape

and though it causes nothing its effects are everywhere

the undefined is not the ignorance that surrounds us

but it is quite at home with both good and bad alike

the undefined is not in all the grains of sand

still each grain can carry its entire message

the undefined is not an ally or an enemy

but remains very close to us each and every day

the undefined is not a part of our family values

though it can be found in all our homes

the undefined is not in the flames of the campfire

yet it may be echoed in the fire’s quiet snapping

the undefined is not a mystery

even though we never comprehend it

the undefined plays no part in our daily lives

but there can be no evasion of its certain path

the undefined is not the million snowflakes

which fall in groups in all directions

the undefined is not empty

for it must surround the void

Tracers

Arriving in a rush, but disappearing with the slightest breeze

Overwhelming in an unguarded moment, but only until scrutinized

Dissolving like a dream in the light of conscious thought

Like dreams, always returning, because they exist everywhere

Yielding a glimpse of strange meaning beyond our everyday concerns

Bringing on fear, hope and emptiness as well as great content

Dripping from a wet, fallen and decaying tree

Incising its mystic patterns upon red desert sandstone

Overheard in the springtime soliloquies of the streams

Leaving with all that has gone away since we first arrived

Surrounding an echo thrown across a canyon

Part of the glint off an ice spring far up on that distant peak

Radiating about the edges of the many-colored thunder clouds

Hovering in a rainbow tune with the buzzing hummingbirds

Embedded in the past as it overtakes us on occasion

Hinted at by beautiful mathematical revelations

Valued companion when it is our time to slip away

Harmonically attuned to our finest vibrations

Integral component of the growing pre-dawn magic

Evaporating like the dew with our noise and confusion

Yet likely not diminished despite our destructive efforts

But certainly obscured by the rending of our progress

Density unaffected by the expansion of the universe

Tracing an outline that changes simply with our perception

Frozen forever in the melting winter ice

Captured complete in one flowing river instant

Disturbing to those groping their own infinitesimal portion

Indescribable as the ocean from a bit of foam blown off a wave

Scorned and rejected by the materialistic and powerful

Sought just the same when they lay down at last

Whispering in the breeze that passes through the pines

Rustling in the background through the leaves of the fall

Making up the silence that is the natural order of things

Only rarely dwelling in the constructs of man

Potentially giving rise to those dark-haired sisters, mercy and grace

Subtle enough to be accidentally crushed underfoot

Dissolving in an instant at the slightest disturbance

Neither created nor destroyed or even effected by time

Sensed everywhere but welling up from within

Blindly trampled by the hordes in their mindless peregrinations

Pure and clear in the smell of a large fish brought alive to shore

Frightening in its absence from our ongoing business

Locked in a slanting ray of sunshine on a day in early June

Escaping us in its flight from our mindless entertainment

Valued very little by powerful entrepreneurs

Part of that god in whom we trust with our dollar bills

Disregarded by the clergy, fossilized amidst odd ceremonies

Sought by those young people of good but restless hearts

Flying overhead in the foggy echo of a wild goose

Revealed in the wonder at a child’s quiet wisdom

Refracted by the colors given off in an ocean sunset

Quickly evaporating during bickering or fighting

Lost in the endless chase for the newest shiny toy

Not really glimpsed during the hypnosis of the purchase

Part of the aura surrounding those captured by madness

Dried up and blown away by our hoarse and empty voices

Caught with a fly in a drop of golden amber 300 million years ago

Inscribed by a glacier into a message on a boulder

Twinkling like a far-off galaxy in the vast starry night

Quiet behind this blue sky under which we children play