Dawn


Soon the light will rise
and the pale morning mist will roll down,
through the pine trees and into the open
where it will be dispersed by the warmth of the sun,
thus night will end and so the day will dawn,
what was hidden will be revealed
and with it all that needs healing,
look in your books, look to your religions,
where will you see such words written down?
Perhaps in poetry alone can you read these things,
words which form bridges between worlds
and call out to the homeless wanderer.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/XII

The age of love

There’s a beautiful light,
an indestructible light deep within us
that is both radiant and receptive,
it doesn’t just shine, it can absorb, rejoice and weep
but more than just this, it can love, it is love,
and now, as we stand on the edge of oblivion, united in fear,
it wants to live, because this edge is the threshold to an age of love,
it is love and love alone that can remove our fear from the future,
our fear of being ridiculed and sneered at, our fear of death
and it is and fear alone that makes us hide in hypocrisy,
fear of our unspoken beauty, our unlived love
and our hidden lights.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/X

My spine


I feel your fingers trace my spine,
my spine, the first part of me, the record keeper,
and you pressing gently between the vertebra,
as if they were the keys on a piano, finding the tune,
the tune of my life, the dark places, the unfinished parts,
the parts weary from work as well as the parts that will not bend,
that help me stand upright during storms,
that keep my head in the stars
and my feet on the ground
so my back can be what it’s meant to be,
a lightning conductor in life and my way home in death.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/IX

Geology


This morning
I don’t have much to say,
it’s been a long week
and with all the work I do
I have emptied myself out,
perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad
if I filled with something else
but that’s not happening,
not this morning anyway,
so I will do the only thing I can,
I will wait, and while I wait
I will say to myself,

‘I’ve had a good life,
it’s nearly killed me
several times over
and probably will in the end
but still, I can’t complain,
I started as clay, turned into flint
and now I’m a pebble’

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/VIII

Knowing


The Creator knows,
and since we are
part of creation,
it follows that we know too,
we know when we look up
into a star filled sky,
when we watch the sun rise
or when great waves come
and wash our efforts away,
we know when our loved ones die,
we know in the eyes of our children
and the gentleness of animals …

… don’t pretend you don’t know,
we all know.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/VI

Sooner or later


Sooner or later
you’ll have to go beyond
your go-betweens, when you do
be sure to thank them as you leave
and hold them in your heart,
because they will have loved you
as fiercely as you have loved them,
but even so, who wants to drink water
that has already flowed under the bridge?

Better to press on and find the source,
the high place, where the water gurgles up,
fresh and pure, from between the rocks.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/V

Creation

I saw the winter frost
sparkling in the moonlight this morning,
walked under the buds on the trees,
waiting for spring to unfold them,
I heard the sound of my feet
echoing on the pavement
and felt my heart beating faster
as I climbed the hill towards our house.
I don’t know if there really is a God
but if there is, then let it be this, all of this.

DF. W-S 2005 XXXIX/III