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Posts Tagged ‘reverence’

Design

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 30, 2025| 11 Comments »


 
 
Imagine the self as a canyon in the making,
   once solid, and then, ongoingly,
     made more spacious, shaped by water,
 
by wind, by forces beyond its control.
   Whatever is sacred, I feel it in canyons,
     these earthen temples to surrender—
 
such holy architecture
   with their deep and ancient silence,
     with their steep and crumbling walls.
 
How sacred the angle of light
   as it enters from the rim and slants
     through the belly of air.
 
Sacred, too, the shadows,
   like those most secret parts of ourselves
     that never see light.
 
When I think of the self as a canyon,
   it is easier to believe I, too,
     can be made more spacious
 
through surrender, the shape of my life
   an ever-changing record of where I resist
     and where I release,
 
oh this practice I am still learning
   to trust, this erosion of self
     into reverence.

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If the Heart Could Dog Ear a Day, There Would Be This Moment

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 12, 2024| 11 Comments »


 
 
The autumn rain was not warm, but soft,
the kind that makes everything shine.
Even the sidewalk. Even a Tuesday.
 
Likely the air smelled of leaves and cut grass.
Likely the birds were a riotous chorus,
because that’s how it is here in fall.
 
What I remember so clear is how you
rushed out the front door
in your favorite hand-me-down dress
 
with brown velvet polka dots
and a pink satin sash—
mighty fancy for a day spent at home—
 
and began to dance on the driveway,
both arms lifting into the drizzle,
an elegant twist to both small wrists,
 
one leg stretched straight,
your bare toes pointed to the pavement,
your face raised up to the rain.
 
It’s your smile that startles me,
then and now, a look of deep contentment,
measureless pleasure in being.
 
Over ten years later, I still see it in you,
something utterly unfakeable, wildly true,
the capacity for joy beyond the frame.
 
It vibrates in me like the tone
of a gong struck gentle and long,
until I too am shining
 
with trembling reverence,
astonished by the grace that’s here.
Even when it’s gray. Grayer. Even when it’s cold.
 

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Redefining

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 5, 2023| 4 Comments »

Perhaps I thought awe required a symphony
or spinning galaxies or flagrant pink sunsets
or dropping to my knees, but today, it’s as simple
as walking beside my daughter on a quiet back road,
and her ears hurt and my legs are tired and spring
is barely a dream, but on this drab and windy afternoon
surrounded by bare branches and dirty old snow,
I feel it, reverence, how big it is, this love for her,
this wonder for the world, and I thrum
with the great gift of being human,
and the world is vaster, my god, it’s sublime.

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I’d Been Bowing for Days

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 11, 2014| 1 Comment »

and that is when
the Beloved said,
(and this is, of course,
a rough translation),
Hey, bowing’s nice,
but wouldn’t you rather
jump up and play chase
or a round of badminton,
perhaps?

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