The shadow falls

Is there a shadow cast
By the man in the mirror
In the dream
he runs
unable to fly
Claws on hands
and feet
Escapes to arrive
At some unknown
doorstep
never
invited in

Love is the law
Love under will
Care is defenseless
When compassion desires
Asks only to please
understand
The shadow falls long
The sun sets
Night falls
and the dream
long forgotten
Returns

Here was a choice
Once was a season
For this
The un-reasoned response
To the tears
For the fears
Are the outrage of life
Scarlet the letters
Written in blood
Of a promise
Made in our name

The forsaken forgiving
of worlds in between
The wound that was opened
and healed
Not by the sutures
In words full of passion
Nor by the balms
of desire
The tomb is laid open
By a hand once wounded
As the way, and the truth
and the light

Picture: http://outpouring.ru/news/1-0-9

Heart beams

Sun moon and earth revolutions
Sleeping barely sensing the motion
Eyes transfixed by the flickering light
Hearts wait in love to be freed

The River of Light

far beyond where dreams become
our sacred journey in the night
past a star swept Milky Way
thought flows within a stream of light

and in its course there comes to be
all that ever was or willed
now finds its essence here in form
desire clothed in thought fulfilled

has come to bear the witness of
life eternal in the mind
reflecting in this light of love
the truth forever came to find

within the heart we live again
and shall abiding always know
the light within the river bends
into each lifetime’s afterglow

Image: http://lightvortexastronomy.blogspot.com/2012/12/imaging-orion-nebula-m42.html

Witness to War

Anyone who knows me, or has been following this blog for a period of time, will recognize that this title today is a subject that strikes deep into my heart, and I would even say soul.

I never heard of Janine diGiovanni before today, I came upon this talk while following another link, and found it full of understandings I have read from others; Greg Braden, talks about being the witness to wars, Nicholas Taleb stated in his book ‘The Black Swan’ that when war broke out in Lebanon people thought it would only last six months, Plato said, only the dead have seen the end of war …
Although she does not speak of him in this talk, whenever I hear of the Bosnian War I am reminded of the Cellist of Sarjevo, who regularly sat in public playing his Cello, defying the snipers who were laying siege to the city.
Please take ten minutes and listen to this woman and mother speak as a witness to war, she speaks for the silent ones, who so truly deserve our attention.

Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook Post Office and dam, from a postcard sent in 1914
Courtesy of Wikipedia

I work 15 minutes from Newtown, CT. I have friends who live in the town there. I live one mile from the home where the Petit family was murdered while we slept, I have witnessed so many tragedies and I have always felt hollow in the aftermath.

There is a heartbreak, and a depth of compassion that wants to reach out and take it all back, make it all go away and give the loved ones their lives back, their sons and their daughters, their fathers and their mothers. Each of us now live as witnesses to this terrible day, and each of us now asks ourselves what would we do, what could we do, if this sort of thing visited us?

In Beyond Zero Point, Greg Braden talks of a time after the murders of 10,000 civilians in Rwanda, and when the news reached him and some friends, there were three very apparent reactions in the aftermath; There was denial from one person, who didn’t really know what to make of it, and just wanted to get back to his life. There was anger – the right vs wrong argument, the “We have to get back at who did this” and “We have to make this stop”.

And the third? There was a willingness in the third person to pause and consider how did we get to this, how did this get started, and what will it take to transcend. What can I do to move past judgement and blame to compassion?

So now, I know I cannot give back what was lost today in Sandy Hook. I can never hurt enough to feel the depth of the loss of those involved in these tragedies. All of us who remain behind have to bear the burden of witness to this day, and ask ourselves what will we do with it.

The brain with it two hemispheres is dualistic in nature and will always see the world from two points of view, in pairs of opposites. What Greg Braden is telling us is we have to transcend the dualism of the brain, and feel the unity that only the heart can bring to us. Unless we reach out with our hearts to transcend blame and judgement, lead with the example of our lives to make the change in the world that we would want to see, then nothing will get better, these days will only continue to be.

My heart and my prayers go out to all those affected today, nothing can erase it from history, yet the heart can embrace the loss and start real healing in our lives, and the lives of all those whom we touch.

Blessings to all in the holiday season, please carry these families in your heart … -gfs

Mr. E

simple words, unspoken truth
a dream across the sky
leaves the poet wondering
the many questions, why?

we came into the world to find
the ways we will have chosen
to give ourselves a place to make
our thoughts forever frozen

until the sands of time return
and take what we create
as ages passed with wind and rain
the hour getting late …

for us to know the reasons for
the way we take and give
is more that just a happening
in days in which we live

the spirals of our life entwine
to reason why at all
we would become forever free
the answer to the fall

Image: http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/fibonac/index.asp