Friday, January 30, 2009

If You Didn’t Know


The Earth speaks, if one knows how to listen;

Sit down, cross your legs, close your eyes,

Palms to the sky. Thumb and forefinger,

Barely touching, lungs breathing deeply,

Ego gone. With a quiet, open mind,

Listen, not with your ears, see,

Not with your eyes.

Can you hear it, long and drawn out?

Humming, ever so softly, pulsing,

Like the blood in our veins, awake.

The trees shiver and shake,

Oceans tremble, earth quakes,

With silvery, omnipotent grace,

“Ohmm,” you will hear it say.

But then, to the west, a train whistle shrieks,

A car engine roars as it drives to the east,

Above, strung about, powerlines scream,

And underneath, below the streets,

Pipes pumping water hiss and screech.

Like plywood nailed to a tree,

Or paint upon a stone,

They can not sing freedom’s song,

They are deaf, dumb, and alone.

If you didn’t know,

A house is not always a home.

To make it one, chant

“Ohm mani padme hum.”

You will see, if your mind is free.

A Cup of Tea

The universe is like the circling froth
On a cup of tea; beneath the surface,
Everything is golden clear, deep and warm.

Galaxies, born of a fingertip’s touch,
Or a blowing wind brought down from above,
Spiral into shape, then fizzle and die.

Ripples passing through the liquid fabric,
Spread out, reverberate, and then recede,
Siphoning off the invisible steam.

Somewhere, beneath the mirror,
Deep within the watered herbs,
The answer swims forever.

Drink it in.

1/18/09