THOUGHTS TO PONDER – a story from the internet
An old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt about the tragedy (9-11) and what should be done.
He said “I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving compassionate one.”
“So,” asked the grandson, “which wolf will win the fight in your heart?”
“The one that I feed,” answered the grandfather
SHAMAN’S STICK
When dead Shamans spirits
pick a new Shaman to carry the stick
they always start by making them sick
In every tribe in the natural world
they whisper and press the same old trick
you’re gonna be sick till you pick up the stick
you’re gonna be sick till you pick up the stick
Pick up the stick or your relative’s dead
pick up the stick or you stay in your bed
you’re gonna be sick till you pick up the stick
you’re gonna be sick till you pick up the stick
Life won’t be easy if you pick up the stick
life won’t be easy if you lay down the stick
You can’t teach a dead Shaman any new trick
so most times it pays to just pick up the stick
you’re gonna be sick till you pick up the stick
you heal the sick when you pick up the stick
REMEMBERING SOCRATES
Last walk on the Acropolis
Last look at the Parthenon
Last time through the door
of low roofed home
Last glass of wine at kitchen table
the tightness in the chest
Last talk with pupils and friends
comforting around the couch
Bitter taste of hemlock
Dead cold creeping from feet
up through legs, torso, chest
Spots of light leaps upward from brow
Where is Socrates asks the guide
did he die
Socrates is the light I reply
THE MAN IN THE DESERT
The man in the desert remembers
and a tear begins to form
A tear so long unshed
ninety percent of the water is gone
Dragging its chain of crusted drops
it carves a white canyon
down his long and leathered face
A cracked tongue between cracked lips
reaches to taste it – Oh so sweet
EAST OF KUNDALINI
Let in the love and give it when you can
See the pain and relieve it when you can
Get into religions and beyond them if you can
Follow all the Gurus and pass them if you can
Dive into each teaching for all the essence there
And strip and strip and strip until you’re bare
But keep my friends I pray a little sense of fun
For when the doings and undoings are all done
and the livings and dyings are all done
Somewhere East of Kundalini
The sun with rise _____ and _____ You will be the sun
EAGLE ON THE MOON
When the Eagle lands on the moon
the Indian will come back
into his power
When the mother is in pain
the children who never forgot
will remind
They will have the medicine
to heal her wounds
They will sit with her while
strength returns
And the children who forgot
will remember
and bring flowers
CIRCLES
Primitive peoples see life in circles
but we’ve tried to straighten them out
taught them how to get ahead
and what life’s really all about
For we know the ways of progress
and we’re moving along just fine
But did we forget to our own regret
that there’s nothing inside a line
THE ARMADILLO
The armadillo lies
in the center of the road
with his feet in the air
The shell on his back
for centuries over used
caused the spine in his neck
to become somewhat fused
So that when he hears
that danger is near
he has to leap and turn
to cover his rear
And if that sound is the front of a car
he leaps into a sudden marriage
of armadillo and undercarriage
So he lays on his back and he waves his feet
a warning to travellers from far and near
about the many dangers of old fear
and old ways of dealing with it
REQUIEM
“There is nothing sad about an empty shell.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Little Prince
My
poetry
is the shell
I leave you now.
It’s spiralled substance
all I’ve known of life and love.
See how it winds, and ever opens
stained with all the colors of my growth
and every gift and every touch of all of you and more
Hold it to your ear
you may hear the ocean
POETS PILOTS AND COWBOYS
A poet will try to dissect the world
and he’ll try to show you each part
and he’ll write it all down with a pen
that he’s dipped in an old carin’ heart
While pilots have the eyes of a hawk
and a strut in the way that they walk
and they give all that’s in them to give
and they live every moment they live
And most cowboys are gentle not loud
and they’re not all that good in a crowd
and they talk like they’re about half asleep
but what they know boys and girls
they know deep