Tea Service

Reliable protection from the elements 

 ~ not always a shiny yellow slicker. 

Hearts bruise,

feelings get frayed and torn. 

souls disappear in the debris of the real world without scarlet drops or purple stains. 

Numbness hides the damage.

Elements of our lives 

 ~ emotional storms and turbulence

need buffers and wraps

to seek protection and shelter.

Warm service from others delivered

in a listening ear, a cup of tea or bowl of soup

offers the reliability of friendship for the long road to recovery.

“When friendships are real, they are not glass threads 

or frost work, but the solidest things we can know.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series

Trapped ~1

Trapped

Inside

My body yearns

To stretch

To step away

To feel the warmth of the sun on my face

Outside

My mind yearns

To see past barriers

Of windows, of doors

To smell new mown grass

My soul yearns

To be free from hard lines

Invisible black lines drawn through life

To feel the beat of my heart

My hands and my feet

Dependable and strong

Carry me forward

My eyes and ears

Reliable and acute

See and hear possibilities

Accept the challenge to break free

Listening to the yearnings of body, mind and soul.

“But you, children of space, you restless in rest, 

you shall not be trapped nor tamed.”

~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Only Our Senses

Only our senses
Feel respect
Sincere smile
Firm hand shake
Offer of help
Stepping aside if the answer is ‘no’
Reliably honest words and deeds
Kindness even in the heat of debate.
Memories of mentors and teachers.

“All credibility, all good conscience, 

all evidence of truth comes only from the senses.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Soul Tuning

I can always return to the piano.

My young sons asked “Why do you only play the piano when you’re sad?”

I didn’t know the answer then

it was merely something that I did

Today’s tunes,

favourites of memory or

tinkling up and down the ivories

where no rules apply,

beckon my soul out of sadness.

Wherever I have lived

I have had a piano 

old pianos in need of 

refinishing

tuning

with a presence solid and reliable

When I want music that 

soothes in roving rhythms

uplifts in crashing crescendoes

piano music is the sound 

most attuned to my soul.

“Its language is a language which the soul alone 

understands, but which the soul can never translate.”

~ Arnold Bennett

Universal Rules

There are rules in the Universe
not necessarily a published handbook to read and understand.

Religions each have their own handbook.

Secularists look to philosophers for guidance.

Instinct and intuition are two guides to such rules.

Watch, feel and flow with nature and weather.

Know that we are a part of the dynamism of nature

despite our convenient world of technology.

I do not dispute the destruction done by 

natural forces of the universe

earthquake,

paralyzing snowstorms

avalanches

flash floods

hurricanes

tornadoes

volcanic eruption

pull of moon, sun and stars

Listening to 

trees and wind

sun, rain or snow

birds, animals and fish;

watching the movement of

clouds

stars

sun and moon

tells stories of life and living,

how and when to survive.

Weather and nature is ever reliable.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature,

he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

~ John Muir