Endurance - A poem

Endurance

We are here to endure the beams of love.

~William Blake

Rays of kindness so intense

one glimpse could melt the thousand-

year ice of a cruel glare instantly,

beams so strong they hold up the whole

of celestial sky without strain or complaint

as though this is what they were made for,

and they were. And we are

here as mere witnesses to these flames,

here to withstand the sheer delight of it all.

And we will fail. For this sort of love leaves

no survivors.

© Heather Barron

Hope - poem

Hope

Old spirit, in and beyond me,
keep and extend me. Amid strangers,
friends, great trees and big seas breaking,
let love move me. Let me hear the whole music,
see clear, reach deep. Open me to find due words,
that I may shape them to ploughshares of my own making.
After such luck, however late, give me to give to
the oldest dance.... Then to good sleep,
and - if it happens - glad waking.

~ Philip Booth ~

(Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999)

1.1.11

I just wanted to write this date somewhere. What a beautiful start to "the year of awesomeness" as King Fu Panda 2 has invited me to call it! My dear friends Jesse and Gabe Hascall birthed Sadie Delphine Hascall into this world this afternoon. She arrived blessedly early and perfectly on time - in HER time! She will get to write this date for the rest of her life. And it is a date I shall not soon forget for many reasons.

And it was a most wonderful end to the year with the arrival of a precious little boy. Avery joined Lisa-Jean Renton and Scott Redfern in Maine, making them proud parents. He arrived safely on December 27th (I believe).

And so it is. Life escorts us out of the old and gently dances us into the new. How beautiful.

Feeling full to overflowing with how much beauty is held within this world, and also desiring to celebrate Jesse and Gabe, and Lisa-Jean and Scott in their new role as parents, I am moved to share the following poem with them and with all parents (biological or not!). May you celebrate how far you have already traveled together. And may you remember to keep celebrating, always.

Rock Tea

At a hot springs in Sawtooth Mountains
8,000 feet above the level sea,
my two-year-old daughter enters the steamy shallows, and sings
I'm naked! I'm naked! And clings to herself
as if the pink body under her slender arms might slip away.
I do not want her to slip away, not ever,
but I know one day she will. I know
one day she will put on her snow boots
and take up the trail in earnest-and I will call out
I am happy for her, very happy, but sad too,
and hope I will see her again. From the pool's moony wash
she brings me her cupped hands. Rock tea, Papa, you like some?
I cup her hands in my own, and drink. It is delicious, I say,
more delicious than air itself, than life, may I have another?
And perhaps you will have one too? Perhaps, thank you,
In this way, gently over rock tea,
we celebrate how far we have traveled together.

~ Gary Gildner ~

(Cleaning a Rainbow)

Written on Christmas Eve, 1513 - Happy New Year to All

Written on Christmas Eve, 1513

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much,
very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can
come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.
Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within
our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see.
And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering,
cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you
will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there.
The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too,
be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering,
that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all!
But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together,
wending through unknown country home.

And so, at this time, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings,
but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and
forever, the day breaks and shadows flee away.

~ Fra Giovanni ~

On Love

Then, just like that, it comes

When you least expect it,

they always say. But,

to your surprise, you find

you are not surprised,

at all. Love is like that.

It sprouts when the peace

of the long winter has so warmed

the ground of your being

that it may finally extend

upward its tender, coiled chutes,

reaching forth strong and slow

that you might know

a circle of embrace,

sun above, life below. You

have moved beyond

expectation, been danced right

into that sanctuary of knowing,

the place beyond place,

space in between spaces,

into the face you have come to see

as the source of your very own.

And it comes, in the turning

and returning, no other face to see

any longer. No other way to live, but

in love.

©Heather Barron

NIGHT VISION

One of the greatest Life gifts I have received has stemmed from the most challenging times in my life. What sort of gift can come from pain and struggle? For me, it has been this solid piece of knowing: Almost all spiritual growth requires a time of seeming “darkness.”
Why would I consider this a “gift?” It has taken a lot of suffering for me to learn that this sort of darkness is not something to be feared, but to be entered into willingly and with trust that the darkness is making way for new growth, for transformation. Before this realization, darkness was terrifying because I felt alone, vulnerable, and incredibly uncomfortable. And as a result, I usually reacted by doing everything I could to avoid, numb and distract myself from whatever pain I was going through.
But after a particularly long and painful time, following the loss of everything I had come to know as my “life” – an 8-year marriage, my only child, my cozy and comfortable life in the mountains, and my community – I began to feel a presence with me in the darkness of it all. In the midst of my deepest grief, feeling abandoned and betrayed, I spent a lot of time in reflection, prayer and solitude. In these quiet moments, I began to actually hear messages that were comforting and reassuring. Every time, a moment of surrender would precede this sense of presence, “I cannot do this anymore,” I would cry out – many times out loud. “I can’t carry on like this.” And then something would happen – a comforting message would come, the phone would ring with exactly what I needed to hear, or just an overwhelming sense of peace would consume my grief.
Many of these moments occurred outside as I was sharing a very small space with a dear friend who was completely supportive and loving. But I was sensitive to not wanting to burden her constantly with my struggle. And I discovered that moving my body and being in nature alone was quite healing.
It was the coldest winter in 25 years in Illinois (where I was living at the time) and yet I would spend a good portion of each day wandering the woods or crying on the chalk bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. On these walks, I began having experiences in nature that were so profoundly beautiful and moving that it actually felt as though something greater than myself was holding me. I consider this presence as “divine Love.”
David Whyte has a poem called, “Sweet Darkness” that resonates deeply for me. Here are the verses that touch me most:

…
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see…

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness

to learn

anything and anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

Perhaps, then, going into the darkness is not about figuring out how to see, but to be seen by Love, which knows the best pace and path for our growth. When we are under the illusion that we are in control of our lives, maybe the blinding of darkness is the most loving thing for our progress in the long run. My experience has been that this “night vision” develops and strengthens over time to be less blindness and a truer sense of vision – spiritual seeing.
A year ago, after coming through another less-intense stretch of darkness, a friend of mine shared something she had read about snakes. Apparently, they go blind right before shedding their skin. In many indigenous cultures and mythologies, snake represents transmutation or transformation. May I continue to be more like the snake, trusting in my blindness that the darkness is caring for me like a “womb,” birthing me into a fresh, new way of being.

Now is the Time

Now is the Time

Now is the time to know
that all that you do is sacred. (1)
~Hafiz

Echoing from a distant past (this poem is many hundreds of years old), Hafiz’s words have taken root in my life, leaving me with some big questions. What would this world be like if we understood that everything we do is sacred? What changes would we experience if we chose to treat everyone as sacred? Can you imagine a world where all of creation is seen by heart – where we meet and greet each other as sacred poems?
Traveling through the Himalayas of India and Nepal, I fell in love with the word namaste. This is a greeting that people use much in the same way that we use “hello” here. But I have come to appreciate this word for its deeper spiritual meaning. An ancient Sanskrit word, namaste breaks into two parts: namas translates as “bowing” and te as “to you.”(2) One definition I have heard used several times is, “That which is divine in me acknowledges and honors that which is divine in you.”
Can you imagine being seen in this way? Hafiz continues in the same poem:

Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child's training wheels
To be laid aside
When you finally live
With veracity
And love.

NOW is the time to “live with veracity and love.” Veracity is defined as “habitual truthfulness,” and is from the root verax meaning “speaking truly.”(3) Can we give each other the gift of speaking truly? Speaking truly is speaking from the heart – allowing love to move upon the waters of your heart and then communicating from that place rather than, and even in spite of, fear.
Looking at our world, with all the apparent despair, suffering, violence and separation, it’s easy to see that (as a whole) we must not be honoring life as sacred. There is a general climate of fear regarding where we are headed as a planet: extraordinary poverty, increasing war and international conflict, starvation, genocide, global warming, etc. And many people feel powerless to do anything about the current state of the world. How can that be? With 5 billion unique individuals with the potential to change this world for the better, how can we still have a world without peace (Nota bene: I realize we are 6 billion strong as a population on this planet – but 1 billion of us do not have the basic needs for survival and therefore conceivably do not have that “potential” available to us at this time).
When we are disconnected from knowing ourselves as expressions of divine Love, we forget our interconnectedness with all life. When we forget our interconnectedness with all life, we forget that we need each other to survive and thrive. When we do not see ourselves and others as sacred, violence is acceptable, even justifiable. Again, from Hafiz (same poem):

Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.

Every thought and action. Driving to work. Waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store. Getting a cup of coffee. Putting your slippers on. Taking a walk. Responding to a spouse. Answering a question. Holding a crying baby. Washing the dishes. Scraping ice off the car. Raking leaves. How can we think and act in a way that honors all of life as sacred? This is a question I am living in right now.

Now here’s an even more radical concept: how amazing would it be if I treated myself as sacred? Can we even imagine what it is to love ourselves unconditionally, free of judgment and full of loving-kindness? Loving others as we love ourselves (which is an inter-faith concept, not belonging to any one religion) doesn’t count for much if we do not respect and honor ourselves – which is not to be confused with being selfish. And a world of people living undivided lives translates into a world that knows its wholeness, its sacredness.
I need you to honor yourself as sacred. I need you to show up as the succulent, radiant, magnificent sacred poem that you are, so that I may bask in the glow that only you can emit. You are sacred, right now, in this very moment. When you accept this and just let that light shine, others can grow in its radiant warmth.

Now is the time to know that YOU ARE A SACRED POEM. The sacred in me acknowledges and honors the sacred in you . Namaste.



(1) From the poem Now is the Time, in “The Gift” translated by Daniel Ladinsky.
(2)“Oxford American Dictionaries”
(3) ibid