Serenity

Serenity,
That quiet calm, that healing hush,
falls over the earth like a blanket,
covering the remnants of the past with a moment
of right now.
More than a promise of renewal, it appears
like the morning, at the beginning of a new time
– the dawning of change.

Going somewhere,
or nowhere,
its shadow fails to disguise the light that will
inevitably
shatter its power. It knows
the moment will give way to opportunity.
The still of singing
brings the blazing sun of mid-day.
Blue will turn to yellow
and yellow to red,
as time passes,
another cycle of the day.

The dew of morning gathers on a leaf.
From high up in a tree, it casts itself over the edge.
A free fall becomes a shower
of silver sparkles.

The silver line on the blue horizon grows.
The mists begin to scatter at will.
Some here, some there.
Hiding in a secret place
to emerge in the cover of darkness.

But their movement is slow.
In the thick,
but fading moment, the movement
evaporates
into the backdrop of a canvass whose picture still works magic on the air.

Its power, too, will fade.
Its time will pass.
But til it does, every sound, every shadow,
the color, the motion…all
experience the gravitas of its bendable restriction.
They wait without impatience
for the time to pass.
Never anxious to be free,
they willingly acquiesce
to the tranquil power, of
serenity.

A reflection from 2014. Thanks to John Anderson for the use of his cabin on Lake Superior where this scene was observed.

Colors of Desire

In silence, my heart is changed. My mind ceases to run and begins to consider another way. Amid the dreams of greatness, a dream of quietness begins to grow. Or that I had never seen before. 
Why have I assumed that only one direction may be called the right and every other less? Perhaps the many were the right and very few the less.

What if I make the choice to be a person less than everything defined by life as greatness I could be?

Is that not what my heart has begun to wonder?

There is a blessing and a freedom in poverty that is unknown to those of wealth privilege and responsibility.

Where the endless pursuit of security destroys the blessings that it might secure.

A less admired, yet not more lovely life could be the one unknown by man or king. Whose simple existence none could bear save few that fall within the silent square. 

Where the living by right of life find joy and pleasure. Simply to be. Pursue the joy of food, of fire, of drink. Perhaps of laughter, the reward of friendship, and skill, the reward of practice.

Is it that I long to feel the earth beneath my feet and hear the sound of water or the air running through the trees? Not knowing what tomorrow may bring. The adventure for survival, the search for something beautiful, moments of peace, the sweat of work.

Here in this imagined place, I am one with what I am made of. My spirit loosed from the chains of civilization, the bondage to society, the slavery to survival.

Yet lost in time the great rewards of love of sacrifice that can only be wrought when one must live a life among others of this world. Perhaps it is not the pursuit of such rewards, but the careful crafting of such nature as could win them should fate blow their need my way. Simple care to be the best in this moment of time, to take what I can from what I am given. To dreaming given only as to a dream, never living where I must only wonder.

How do I take and find the way between these many varied colors of desire? The simple life, the one of fame, the love and responsibility with the joys of friendship, the deep beauty of solitude. That which is unrecognized does not have less value. Perhaps my light could run another way, uncelebrated, effective, beautiful, and well loved by one. If ever by more, only of their choice, no greater value bestowed on that already found worth living. Alone.