When Everything

when everything is quiet one can hear the trickling of clear thoughts

and those real events finally emerge from this fuzzy blur

when everything is making sense and it's dark and it is cool

there is little left that we should fear

when everything can be seen and heard in its own good time

and there are no shrieking sounds or flashing lights

when everything stops its pushing, its shoving and its screaming

we find that peaceful silence is not empty, after all

when everything stops spinning and the shouting fades away

the quiet hidden things begin to croak and peep once more

when everything comes into focus and your feet are on the ground

enjoy this fleeting moment before you are swept away again

when everything turns over and the world can make no sense

there can come a healing silence if there is but a little darkness

when everything is rushed and naked confusion is the rule

then emerges a strength born in the quiet dark alone

when everything is resting and you are left to think

pray you find these springs from which to draw your healing

when everything is silent as the snow falls upon the ground

inside grows a joy that sits beside a warming fire

when everything goes as it should upon a moonless night

the misty milky way reveals more than a simple cold starlight

when everything that has no meaning becomes extremely clear

it is time to let the deeper things percolate up into your mind

when everything is finally still after all the noisy penetrating trivia

perhaps a moments reflection is worth a year’s entertainment

when everything that incessantly clamors is left without an audience

once again, mysteries that cry out can be carried in upon the wind

when everything seems simpler though you do not understand it

we have peeled back yet another layer from the onion of our mandala

when everything unneeded falls away as if behind us up in outer space

then perhaps comes another time when wonder finds its place

when everything that beckoned lies silent at one's resting feet

then maybe this miraculous spring can truly bubble freely

when everything collapses inward as you are left alone

I hope you find there is, indeed, a core remaining at the center

when everything is wrapped in black, and fall ignites the stars

may you, just one time, glimpse the beckoning void for yourself

when everything is not just swirling by from out of every corner

perhaps it's then that it's the time to see what may still be important

when everything seems way too close up and far too personal for your taste

may you glimpse the wisdom in those images from out in deep space

when everything has just been wrong for way too goddamn long

would that you find that elusive peace within, my tortured brother

when everything we hold in honor is simply used to clean the floors

sit with me then and ponder, the moonlight from our rowboat

when everything closes in one day from all sides and all at once

hopefully no longer can you only simply turn away

When everything and everyone has finally chosen between only black and white

Hopefully, god can still be found in the colors of the rainbow

When everything you wanted to complete is no longer within your grasp

Then you will find the questions you never had the time to ask

When everything fades away to the ticking of a clock some winter afternoon

Watch the sun as it chases growing shadows across your tiny room

When everything loses its color as the twilight fades away

May you close your eyes and rest in peace until another day

When everything falls into its place and it’s not as late as you had thought

I wish you luck with grasping the real meaning of your success

When everything seems full of promise and the days grow ever brighter

Take care to notice when the leaves reach the very height of their fullness

When everything reduces to the sound of silence behind closed eyes

Does your heart race quite strangely and do random thoughts assail you?

When everything cries out, but you find that you can rest in peace

Can it matter if you have understood or only learned to ignore?

When everything moves away from you at the speed of light

How can it change the universe to observe the polarity of a photon?

When everything can be explained in terms of unrelated contradictions

It should come as no surprise to achieve great wealth and then to die of cancer

When everything is turning green and gentle rains promise peaceful times

I hope that you can find your way amid the chorus of the marshes

When everything is quiet and darkness fills a starry sky

Note the occasional meteor that streaks brightly in less than a heartbeat

When everything has come down to a decision made many years ago

Sometimes it’s hard to think about what might happen long from now

When everything depends upon choices made without time for deliberation

Instincts trained in long years of practice must somehow see one through

When everything we held in the highest place of honor stops making any real sense

What nearly unnoticeable strength will emerge to light our lonely path?

When everything that is needed is no longer available in the stores

Perhaps it will be time again to simply listen as rain falls upon the roof

When everything goes out of focus and voices seem so far away

Pain, too, is dulled and great suffering is eased, with just a little mercy

When everything continues but without any reasons that we can perceive

Perhaps the sounds of nature may help re-sort the order from confusion

When everything is still but the day, nonetheless, continues to begin

Let there be a moment left before the noise and dust and turbulence start again

When the present reduces to the last 3 minutes of passing distractions

Let this so-called illusion be penetrated by some observer from within

A Fresh Water Home

there is a cottage on that lakeside where I swam so long ago

there came the smell of life from deep down within that lake

I had a glimpse of paradise where the bluegills lived among the pickerel weeds

I saw the sun from beneath the cool green water, with my cousins

I heard as wavelets lapped for a while when the breeze had stopped

I listened to the frogs all croaking where they were safe and wet

they said the lake was very deep and the water very good

they said fossil sand dunes still filtered the long rains of autumn

there is a dirt road down by the lake that is soft upon bare feet

there are large beech trees at the lakefront where the old folks sit

I felt the wind change late in August as the leaves began to show their bottoms

I felt at ease while swimming in that lake all those fish called home

I saw the starlight shimmer on the surface of the darkened water

I saw the joy upon the faces of the little kids as they splashed and played

I heard the fish as they were jumping and I saw the rings that spread

I heard the oar locks squeaking and the water dripping from their blades

I heard the water passing by as I swam beneath the surface

I heard the gentle tinkle when my head broke through the water

I knew that things made a wonderful and complex but, common sense

I knew the summer was nearly over when our lips began turning blue

I felt the lake touch me from the dock when there was no breeze

I felt the bluegill tugging when the hook caught in his mouth

there was a time on summer evenings when the lightning bugs emerged

there was a breeze that brought the sound of wavelets to a bunkbed

I was a boy who dreamed of fishing and swimming every day

I was a boy who played ditch'em in the hardwood hills behind the cottage

I felt the cool stone floor of the cottage on those rainy summer days

I felt the warmth of the fireplace my uncle had built in the swirling mist

I heard the tinkle of the raindrops from underwater when it was quite still

I heard the explosion of air in the water when I leapt from the dock

there is a road that is still not paved, and it stretches back to those days

there is a wondrous happiness in simply knowing that we were there

I saw the babies in their cribs and the calm old ones sitting quietly together

I saw light rays wiggle greenishly and geometrically down into that good water

I knew the lake would, of course, be preserved just as the trees would be left to grow

I knew the world was made to last for at least a million years

I touched the spongy moss and knew that it was good

I touched the surface of the lake and it clung to my finger

there is a twilight full of peace and the presence of the lake

there is that group of quiet children before the modern age

I helped put in the dock and float the raft in good time for memorial day

I helped dig the worms, bail the boat then caught and cleaned the fish

I saw the painted turtles with orange stripes on their faces

I heard the stories of all the people who were a part of that family

I was a man who once, thank god, came back to swim in that lake again

I was a man who was finally able to realize how lucky he had always been

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

Good Weaving

Swim in the oceans, the lakes and the rivers

Hike the far places and enjoy different cities

Cook your own meals together in the kitchen you remodeled yourself

Write down whatever true lines might come from inside

Take time to be alone, considering the quiet darkness

Be comfortable outside and get a little dirty

Decorate your own place with a slow and loving care

Patch that leaky roof all by yourself

Create a fine soup from that good chicken carcass

Rehabilitate that broken but comfortable lawn chair

Notice as the moon waxes and wanes

And be aware as your life seasons come and go

Bake your own bread and break it with your family

Change your oil and top off all those fluids yourself

Sell your house without a grasping, useless, so-called professional

Read for yourself and cast aside all the sound bites

Buy good things used and proudly donate items in their time

Don’t let the angry young man become the bitter old fool

Make someone smile using your own imagination

Plan a trip all by yourself to a place you’ve never been

Pick up your own instrument and play from your heart

Mix up some concrete and put it to good use

Tile the halls and refinish the wood floors

Buy the tools that you need to make these things work

Hook it up and wire it in

Mend the clothes should they get torn

Cut your own hair to suit your own taste

Sing the songs that make you feel right

Leave enough room for a few more wild dreams

Give the local birds a happy home beside you

Grow tomatoes or a whole garden

Don’t replace it if it ain’t really busted

Take some time to just stand in great wonder

Tend to the house plants and you will bloom together

Paddle the river, board the mountain, hike the trail, bike the pass

Distrust all noisy, gasoline-powered recreational forms

Start your own trends and ignore the media concoctions

Keep the faith though the struggle is both endless and futile

Build it to be stronger than it will ever have to be

Make it to last longer than it could ever be good for

Put it together so it can be taken apart and repaired

Have enough parts around to get all these things done

Realize that to love is your highest aspiration

Listen to the voices that brought you from the past

Leave all your campsites cleaner than you found them

Strive for a society where women blossom like flowers

Try not to shout without thinking or slam things to the ground

Take good note of scientific, mathematical and philosophical infinity

Study enough to be able to start seeing all the questions that appear

Take pride in your work or find something else to do

Try to weave your scattered experiences into your own rational tapestry

Laugh with the masters as they clap with one hand

Marvel at the blossoms that appear in the spring

Just keep on working, quite absorbed, until death overtakes you

Live happily with the dogs, our own true partners and friends

Simply teach your children to do for themselves

Analyze but do not swallow those mass-market opinions

Be skeptical of slick but empty corporate entertainment

Verify wisdom with your own eyes, ears and mind

Try and save something, each and every day

Know your computers inside and out

Tap into the Web to give and to get

Understand yourself better than you do those fools on TV

Take time to be overwhelmed by life’s baffling mysteries

Tend to the things which have always supported you

Fall in love as deeply as you possibly can

Make sure your read widely and above third grade level

Be able to do the math and understand the physics and statistics

Know about planets, stars and distant galaxies

Learn the past of humans, of the earth and the cosmos

Be able to heed wisdom when you should stumble across it

But do not allow others to do your thinking for you

Live within your means and plan for the future

Search out those things that you do very well

Maintain your body as well as your mind

Learn to differentiate between empty fads and true values

Train for good work and continue sharpening your skills

Do not grow bored for the sake of a paycheck

Speak at least one other language and know your own very well

Travel widely and quietly, learning from others far away

Build up a small framework of reason and understanding

Have faith, but avoid dogma and organized religion

Understand the world around you better than the plots of soap operas

Always follow the money to understand politics and business

Listen to the rain as it falls gently on the roof late in the evening

Pause and strain to understand the quiet bursting of the Springtime

Laugh loudly and often, especially at yourself

Cry when you have to and somehow grow from the sorrow

Hold someone tightly and listen to their heartbeat

Look deeply into the mystery that comes before and after

Keep your study well-organized to prepare for twisted and isolated facts

Maintain a thumb on the bullshit buzzer but fill your heart with ideals

Simply share the earth with all of its beings

Build a sustainable bridge that links to a real past

Try to find new ways to make things better while using up a little less

Enjoy cutting waste to help supply your friends in the future

Do some of the things that I could only imagine

Don’t make all of these same mistakes that I have already made

Realize that your life is vanishingly short

Try to love all these good things at once, with everything you have

North Light

soft enough for naked eyes

gently suffusing without penetrating

never bright enough to burn

creating shadows, but indistinctly

indirect, yet with great influence

nurturing but not through outer strength

safe and good for pregnant mothers

stroking fondly all their children

fair with any given color

obscuring lines and blending shades

neither hopeless nor full of warmth

filling spaces without shining

where calm silence finds its home

harboring simple quiet patience

shadowed refuge from the heat

teasing images from vaguest forms

washed to blue by December

providing hints of untold stories

pallid background for depression

casting shadows on dying faces

though always there for a canvas

supporting fully only faintest hope

created without morning rays

leaving soonest with the twilight

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

Maybe Not Too Late

when I awoke and gasped for breath I struggled to remember

a thing that I had meant to do so long ago somewhere in the past,

some promise I had made, and I was drenched in icy sweat

now, how could I have forgotten, how could I have delayed

maybe, I thought, it's still not too late…

if I really try my best

maybe it's not too late for all those things I never did

for all the apologies I did not mean

all the places I have never been

perhaps not yet too late to search for

that which was so easily avoided for so long

still there may be time enough to craft myself that Happy Ever After

when I looked round with loudly beating heart

and breaths drawn quick and shallow with a buzzing in my ears

oh sweet jesus let it be...not yet too late for me

as I strive to remember all those things I absolutely cannot leave undone

the time for their completions, once so long and far away

it seems, may have somehow simply slipped away

should I fail to complete them, if their time has past

the meaning of the rest of me is certainly diminished

and the empty blackness will be my just and final state

when I awoke and cast about in fear and nervous tension

I sensed a trap I had not even seen

until it had grown well beyond very late

I looked about quite anxiously for help

but there were no grownups standing by

I felt so alone and frightened, how might this mistake have happened

quite late it seems, quite dark and still

but my sudden, yet far beyond tardy, urgency surges

maybe, oh please just maybe, let it be not already way too late, way too long ago for me