Fall

The clouds were luminous
My heart was simple
The road was long
I was tired

I thought about my parents
I thought about my childhood
I felt that we were innocent
The road was long

The sun shone through the clouds
The light lit up the trees like gold
I felt that we were innocent
It was fall

Elephant

Silent tears from the belly
Silent heavy sad
Silent shy shame
Heavy silent elephant
Sad shy elephant

Glory be to the heavy earth
Molten, golden, heavy earth
Melting heavy sad
Into all-good earth
Merging heavy shame
Into good, giving earth

Tears good rivers breathing
Flowing free
Child crying
Heavy sad into
Beautiful, living earth
Tender worms
Heroic stones

Good heavy elephant
Flowing sad into free
Flowing soft and easy
Melting into solid earth
Flowing river for us to be

Elements

I sing no song that water does not hear
I tell no joke that wind does not get
I cry no pain that fire does not burn with
And there is not an inch of this earth that is not home

Seasons

Sadness and death
Come easily
I do not have to run after them

The joy and tenderness of spring
And the hope of seasons reborn
Come just as easily

Sitting here, on a chair
Just a few minutes pass by--
My, what a life!

Shy

I am so sorry
That I turned away from your eyes
I did not pick all the apples there
I did not think they could be for me

Kindness

What do you find
When you are kind?
A sweet spilling of mercy

Is the world good?
Is the world bad?
When was the last time you looked at the sky?

Please slow down
It might hurt--
Light a candle
In the dark room of your pain

Please slow down
Feel yourself
Taste the soup
Smell the flowers
Look at your friend's face
Touch her hand
Touch your own,
If you're alone

Above all,
Please be kind to yourself
If you can't,
Please think about kindness
If you can't
Just say the word
Kindness

Power Outage

The power had been out for at least a day
Absence of electricity
Left us with ourselves
To talk with our hands
To laugh with our words
To understand with our teeth
To see with our skin
To smile with our eyes
To share simple meal
With candle

This was the dignity and goodness of humans
A colourful tale, handwoven
A game made from scratch
A home-grown story

Then the power came back on
And the silence forgot itself
And lost itself again in the numb buzzing sound
Of our lives pretending to be real