past the borders of happiness and unhappiness
a rim of fire oaks bid me on the blue horizon

smooth hand like leaves held me there
while the first hard rain fell

I kneeled and leaned into the heady fragrance
of an ancient wisdom revealed
beneath the old rough timber

it spoke of the delicate balance in being
at once firmly rooted while gently yielding
whenever the fall winds swept through

I heard of the necessity of winter’s annual arrival
for stillness is the silent cathedral of the earth

I learned that what drops away gives rise to rich black loam
so that nothing that is cherished ever perishes

listening intently now, the old knowing timber whispered
how it never seeks to contain what cuts deep

no, you give it up to the low slung clouds overhead
to be carried on the wings of the air

©heartsdeesire

]]> http://simplyblessed.heartsdeesire.com/2010/02/23/wisdom-of-trees/feed/ 5 Beth/Bethie trees_at_Woods_Canyon_Lake http://simplyblessed.heartsdeesire.com/2010/01/23/pockets/ http://simplyblessed.heartsdeesire.com/2010/01/23/pockets/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:41:24 +0000 heartsdeesire http://simplyblessed.heartsdeesire.com/?p=2419 ]]> Image Locale

almost entirely hidden
we carry this
a little pocket of pain

the one that time didn’t heal

tucked where it can’t easily be seen
something trivial and you bump into it
unexpected, it’s still tender

sometimes pieces tumble out
“it’s been ten years since …”
“I haven’t forgetten the moment when …”

the lyrics of our wounds differ
but that we are inevitably moved upon
by them is what we share

for what breaks us, shapes us
into something more

and sensing this in each other
we silently walk together on the street
where there are no strangers

©heartsdeesire

there are oceans of blue sky within

one deep inhale of the ancient salt water sky

and you are capsized into this world

gently you are breathed through the ebb and the swell

you  —  have lived here forever

while this world has unfailingly carried you

©heartsdeesire

what will you do…?

when the worry is gone
when the self condemnation is gone
when fear is not your bedfellow

what will you do with that new wide open space

lay down in it
breathe deeply
close your eyes
you are home

©heartsdeesire

a blustery autumn day today
the last of the maples
the cherries and the stately alders
releasing their leaves

they compel me to set free
the old that hangs on

in favor of what newness
may blossom
from my limbs

©heartsdeesire

I have fallen between the cracks
and landed in the spaces
where love never fails

Beloved, you are my captor
and I am bound by your love

I hear you whisper softly
don’t speak. words fail here, just listen

churning on the seas of your desire
I am the rising and the falling

the beginning and the ending
the fullness and the emptiness

journey to the furthest point of your yearning
I am the anguish and the exaltation

I am the grain of sand awakening the pearl

I am the morsel you are tasting
be it bitter or sweet

quench your deepest thirst here
where you think I’m not

I Am.

©heartsdeesire

God couldn’t be here himself
so he clothed his Helpers in fur
and sent them to Earth

be soft he said
and they were

lick he said
and they did

purr he said
and they did

love, love, love he said
as if nothing else ever mattered
and o, how they do.

©heartsdeesire

Image Locale

It was like this
we huddled around the fire
clutching what remained of our beliefs

they’d grown old and shabby
frayed at the edges from all that clinging

convinced they were so indispensable
we hadn’t risked laying them aside ’til now

give them to the fire on the count of three,
one said to the others

but I know words burn only if you let them

I want it new, I want to slide out doorways
and small cramped rooms into open spaces
full of light

we toss them and a wild blue smoke rises up
moonlight shines on new worlds

we walk towards the blazing light of infinity
with open emptied hands

©heartsdeesire

I’ll never know why always or never
could stand in a sentence and seem
so self-assured

as if it had access to some secret intelligence
that just knew it could only ever be this way
or not this way at all

everything destroyed or worse yet
never born in a single careless breath

a heart grows hard if it listens for too long
no place for uncertainty or grace

yet something else hovers out there
beyond dogma or conviction
I know, because it’s always been that way

©heartsdeesire

I give you the letter
I never sent
that begins with
how precious you are
and ends with
love always and forever

I give you star dipped kisses
to wear in your hair

I give you a small yet competent compass
to hold in your pocket

I give you true North as your guide

I give you back your last two birthdays

I give you the card that reads:
now, you may begin anew

I give myself one, too.

©heartsdeesire