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Let the Road

Let the road

Take you home

Let the path

Call your spirit

Let the sky

Draw your eye

To the line

To the fairies

Do not fear

The dark road

Do not fret

Paths so endless

There are stairs

Up to heaven

There are rails

Bound for home

Let the road

Find direction

And a handhold –

Lean on

As the road

Marks your steps

Leads the way

Takes you home.

(February 9, 2014)

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One world

There’s snow in the North hemisphere

There’s sun in the South

A mystery line that splits seasons

And turns the sun around

One world

Two halves

East and West, North and South

A multitude of places and

Even bigger one of beings

All unique in their glories

All striving for life

Ice coats sidewalks in New Hampshire

Sweat coats brows in Brazil

There are coats in Chicago

Flip flops Down Under

Naked trees in Vermont

Bikinied girls in Cape Town

All attires between

In all places are children:

Bundled up or

Bare armed

Booted and coated

Warmed in the sun

In a sphere blue with oceans

Currents, islands, trade winds

Charted lands

Charted songs

Charted trends

Blogged, tweeted, emailed heart lines

There’s a place of belonging

A tangible understanding

A gravity holding

Us all on shared ground.

(Spa Corner–February 2014)

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Festive Times Are Coming

Festive times are coming:

Times of light and miracles

Of culture and tradition

Of hope

New Year

New life.

Times for gathering are coming:

Families away are reconnecting

Friends from oh-so long ago are seen

Neighbors joining neighbors

In blessed celebration

On journeys time finally allows

And watch in smiling observation as

The children wonder, play and sing.

Time to do is coming:

For lists and preparation

For gifting, parties, and too many sweets

Time for tending home and loved ones

For remaking old tradition or forming a new another

For feeling the connection to what was

And what would be, and what can still become.

Time for visiting some old and some new places

For realizing what one needs

And what one yet hopes to explore.

What comforts and what pushes tender buttons

What comes awake and what one’s grateful for.

And above all,

Time to hold one’s self and care safe, tight, and gentle

As you fill your cup with joy

Hold love and hug your loved ones

Make fruitful what’s within your heart

And find your soul’s delight.

(Spa Corner–December 2013)

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When schedules burst…

When schedules burst

And moments mesh to merge the hours

To a tangled thread,

Find time.

 When sorrows heard

Meet sorrows known and sorrows worried

To a tapestry of woe,

Find joy.

When there seems less room for breath

And fast pace crowds the moments of respite

Or memory of grace,

Find space.

When frazzle becomes norm

And hurriedness takes center stage

To blur the lines of heart and mind

And test the span of soul you hold,

Take breath

Take heart

Take time, claim joy, clear space,

Hold onto ease.

Find peace.

(Spa Corner–November 2013)

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If The Mountains of To-Do

If the mountain of to-do

Accumulated on your summer’s desk

Awaiting

And  the prospect of clear way

Is left unseen

Around the bend,

Be assured

There is a marker for the path

To guide your way

If your get the blues

On back to school and work days

Or foresee a dried-out time

Of far less fun

And far less sun

And a desert of vacations

‘sted of beachy sand—

Know you’re not alone, and

Friends can make the passage

Far less glum

If you feel a depth of sorrow

For free time

Fleeting away

Do not despair:

Not all is lost…

Remember, every pit has got a bottom

And a top

With light’s still there

To shine the day

Photo Credit: A.A.

So have heart

At end of summer,

Not all light and freedoms are lost

With bags unpacked…

Climb aboard the task-long-rungs

Of satisfied tomorrows

And hold on—

You are not alone—

We throw a ladder

A path

Back to the daily grind

And still friendly sun…

(Spa Corner–September 2013)

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May You Find a Time For Quiet

May you find a time for quiet

By the sea or surf or tree

And a friend to lean on

Gently

As you breathe in

Feeling free

May you have the time to linger

With a partner, friend, loved one

Spot a funny

Find adventure

Walk into the surf

The sand

May your heart expand in beauty

And enchantment grip your soul

May amazement fill your spirit

As it sings

The perfect glory

Of the world, the air, the all

May sunsets glide on molten day-light

To shepherd in calm evenings

Wonder nights,

Holding how

The laughter rippled

On the swing of summer’s frolic

And the kiss of golden sun.

(Spa Corner–August 2013)

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Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung in bright green grandeur

To splashed light on

Verdant paths.

Long ways home seem much shorter

As light dapples dimples on both

Fawns and footfalls, and

Horizons almost within fingers’ touch

Flowers weave ricly colored tapestries

In unabashed combinations

Of gleeful blunt excess of

Purely fun

And there’s the wish to run now wild, arms askew,

Hair and chores flying, trailing behind

Through new meadows and carpets of exuberant hues

In the sun

Curiosity sparkles

New ideas

Older thoughts

Hibernating and slow winter pause all but done

Spring has sprung…

And as the old whispers secrets

And the young smile in wistful remembrance

And soul recognition

Of cycles repeating through ions

Of time.

New potential waits,

Tender,

Nascent

Holding sheer transformation

Endless options

New things

As the spring steps one closer to summer

And confident

Forward

Unfurls it wings.

(Spa Corner–June 2013)

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Cold Days

Cold days are getting longer in the tooth

And warmth a tad too short on the daylight,

The sun seems too far

And the wind far too chummy,

Old ice crunches underfoot

And the snow’s lost some sparkle.

Icy roads lost their glow

And the way home got tired;

New pathways seem blocked

From soul-view

By the frost

Droopy snowmen stand in front-yards

Forlorn

Artistic

And somewhat forgotten

Snow-angels dug into by shoveling arms

And stamped flat by everyday feet…

Winter’s been long enough.

Warmth is coming…

Groundhogs looked at shadows

And children slid down hills; slipped on sidewalks; jumped in puddles; muddied endless floors to be mopped…

Parents bundled up little ones

Onion-style ‘gainst the cold,

Until arms almost stuck

To the sides

Scarecrow style

And faces hid way under hats, hoods and scarves

Keeping warm…

Winter’s been long enough.

We agree.

Time to pass…move along…time to thaw…

It’s okay.

You can breathe.

And relax,

And hold on…warm mug at hand

And the fire ablaze in the hearth

And the heart

And the home

It is time

For more sun and less layers

Soon

Almost here—

See?

Warmth is coming…

It’s been on its way

All along.

(Spa Corner–February 2013)

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Shortened Day, Busied Schedules…

Shortened days,

Busied schedules

Storms and worry.

Needs

That pile on and change that cannot arrive

Fast enough—

It’s okay. It’ll pass.

Find a spot fit for loved ones and cuddle—

There are never too many in one’s hearth and home

When a perch manifests

And some balance besides…

Pin your hopes on much bounty

On deep friendship and harvest

On the things needing aired

And the flutter of newness

Each dawn and in dusk,

When the light hits the line we have strung

And leaves room for the airing and drying of worries

Come night.

Pause…and breathe…

And

Gaze into the glass:

Half full

Or half emptied

It is real well enough

And refills both from dew on the heart

And the bemused discovery

Mirrored

In unexpected images

And an endless delight…

(Spa Corner–November 2012)

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Summer’s Rushing

Summer’s rushing, moving faster,

Free time’s coming or almost over,

School-time heading ‘round the corner

Shopping, planning, schedules put in order—

All fine

But

Don’t forget to find some water…

Turn off laptops, cell-phones, iPads, Kindles, satellites and television

The chatter, papers, news-talk, blogs

Make time, opportunity,

For the shows that only nature knows to stage

Without the option

To record…

Study wave forms,

Sand and sunshine

Watch horizons shift and glow

Plan ahead and bring some leisure—and a bucket

Castles, also, need to grow

Make most of summer

Sun, shade, slumber,

Find a moment to press closer

And be braver…

Even from a distance there is courage…

To know unease

And tackle wonder

And hold a hope

That those big old things we possibly prefer asleep

Would prove us our true bravery…and move a bit…

Summer’s rushing, but

In your action don’t forget to

Laze about and think of something worth of wishing:

A beginning of a story

Or an ending to a worry;

And as you blow along the threads, the dreams

To spread afar the seeds of later

Relish summer as a time to

Slow

some

more…

(Spa Corner–July-August 2012)

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Summer’s Knocking At The Door

Summer knocking at the door

The sun unfurls the flowers

Busy bees aloft with nectar

A million butterflies afloat.

It is time now.

Go explore.

The air is scented with the newness

In the sunlight days are longer

Evenings stretch and

Time galore

Outside the door

Go explore…

Find a soul-mate or a trail-mate

Grab a moment

Watch a frog,

Mimic bird song

Fish a petal from a stream

The burbling water

And the wonder…

Go explore!

(Spa Corner–May-June 2012)

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Celebrate!

Celebrate

How light now lingers into evenings

And sunshine warms your back outdoors

And melts away the memory of winter’s frost …

Celebrate

The tenacity of tender shoots that push their way through thawing ground

And poke their heads a tad, then more, then somehow overnight are grown

Valiantly unfurling leaves into the air, impossibly verdant in the sun …

Celebrate

The opened jackets

Hands freed from mittens and heads from woolen hats and muffs and scarves and cold

Children unbundled, limbs released to flap a’merry, running free …

Bikes, scooters, kites, hopscotch and monkey-bars, swings and slides galore

Celebrate

The cloud races streaming breathlessly across the skies

The hasty dress of trees in flower, bud, and leaf,

The showers of rain drops

The flower petals—both fairy kisses in your hair—

The ever-shifting mood of nature in stunning flux of change

Photo Credit: A.A.

Celebrate

The blossoming of dreams and wishes

The newly minted plans for outdoor strolls, for hikes and gardens,

For lawns and flower beds,

For chicks and bunnies, fawns and calves, cygnets, cubs, and babies …

Celebrate

The intoxicating fever of spring

As new life spring and bloom aflame.

(Spa Corner–April-May 2012)

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Time To Play

With the world now turning inward

Slumbering in winter’s grasp—

Find time to play.

With this New Year somehow ticking

Almost a full month of its spin—

Make time for play.

In the hustle of cold mornings,

Early darkness,

Frozen windshields,

Icy drafts—

Carve time.

Sit.

Play.

Put aside the chores and laundry,

The notes, reports, reviews and worries,

The ever adding tasks of day—

And play.

Refresh your heart

Renew your spirit

Rejuvenate the wonder of all things you knew and dreamt of

Way back in the day,

And allow yourself—once more—or finally

To concentrate in utter flowing focus

Hard at play.

(Spa Corner–January 2012)