Category Archives: Poetry
Earth, Isn’t This What You Want ~ Rilke
Earth, isn’t this what you want? To arise in us, invisible?
Is it not your dream, to enter us so wholly
there’s nothing left outside us to see?
What, if not transformation,
is your deepest purpose? Earth, my love,
I want it too. Believe … Continue reading
FollowMorning Wind ~ Rumi
The morning wind spreads its fresh smell.
We must get up to take that in,
that wind that lets us live.
Breathe, before it’s gone.
~ Rumi
The Journey ~ Mary Oliver
This poem really says it all for me. It is expresses the journey beneath the journey that is itineris, that is my life. It speaks to me of the sadness and the joy, of the aloneness, of the courage involved … Continue reading
Wild Geese ~ Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and … Continue reading
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Allow ~ Danna Faulds
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety … Continue reading
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The Guesthouse ~ Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture.
Still treat … Continue reading
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Bewilderment ~ Rumi
There are many guises for intelligence.
One part of you is gliding in a high windstream,
while your more ordinary notions
take little steps and peck at the ground.
Conventional knowledge is death to our souls,
and it is not really ours. It is … Continue reading
Solitude Follow-up
I just discovered this wonderful poem “How to Be Alone” performed by the poet, Tanya Davis and filmed by Andrea Dorfman. It expresses so much of what I was feeling as I wrote about solitude.
Give Birth to Your Images ~ Rilke
You must give birth
to your images
they are the future within you
wanting to be born.
Fear not the strangeness that you feel
The future has to enter us
long before it happens.
~ Rainer Marie Rilke
Companioning ~ Wolfelt
In the spirit of Iteneris, this poem is also a traveler. I first obtained it from Teresa Smith-Dixon, a local hospice manager who shared it during the passing of a dear community member and wife of my friend and mentor, … Continue reading