I Have Never Seen a Peach Tree

I have never seen a peach tree,
At least, not to know I did.
There are many things we don’t see,
Though in plain sight they are hid.

Some things to see are plain to all.
Others seem subtle, their import easy to forgo.
It’s not a case of big or small—
We know what we see when we see what we know.

Of course I know a peach by sight,
The distinctive touch of the furry skin,
Succulent flesh in the mouth a delight,
Sweet juice running down the chin.

Dispute, Difference, Division

Division is inevitable,
Dispute unavoidable.
Unanimity: a pipe dream.

Every group, large or small,
Has from time immemorial,
Faced the same inevitable wall,
A contest adversarial.

The outcomes of dispute are few,
Though each seems different, too many to name.
Either one side conquers, the other gives way,
Or terms are reached irking both sides the same.

Generations

So your generation changed the world?
You protested war, camped at Greenham.
You fought in wars for freedom, or wars of imperialism.
You dodged the draft, you called for peace.

So your generation changed the world?
With the summer of love, you called for change.
The sexual revolution, women’s liberation.
You saw what could be, and worked to make it real.

Today I Wed

Today, I wed.

My marriage will not bring love,
It is brought by it.

My love does not change the world,
It changes me.

It does not cure my ills,
But it enables my living with them.

Love is the font and source of life.
It is the power the underlies all powers.
It is the strength that falters last.
When dedication and principle and reason fail,
Love remains.

Memento Mori

If Pascal were a (liberal) Quaker?

Remember you must die, life cries;
Your days shall end and then,
What shall you say you've done with life?
What account shall you keep?

What then shall come beyond this life?
It's clear that none can say.
Rewards may come for good deeds done,
Chastisement for your wrongs.

Maybe reward shall just depend,
On where you've placed your faith.
How then to choose among the range,
Of paths you see arrayed?

If there shall be a judge anon,
Selecting the elect,
There is little that can be done,
But hope that they are fair.

No Hands But Ours

In hardship, I do not expect God to help me.
For all change in this world comes through us, you must see.
As I hurt, as I fear, still I know I rely,
Upon care, upon love, those who suffer as I.

For such powers as may seek to watch and to aid,
Need our hands, need our voice, need our hearts not to fade.
We might wish, we might hope, as we nurse at our scars,
This I know, this I say, they have no hands but ours.

Valentines

Whether you believe it began with Lupercalia,
Or with the romanticism of a Christian martyr,
It is the time, or so they say,
For gestures and declarations
of love.

As if there were ever anything to stop or restrain,
Anything to inhibit, anything to slow or stall,
Such feelings or such expression –
That can be removed or lessened
By a day.

The reservation of a day for romance and for love
Does not liberate or empower – it inhibits us!
Let love flow now, then, and always.
Commercial concerns have no place
Scheduling love.

Written February 2018

Silence, Darkness, Space, Love

In silence still, a voice awakes.

In darkness deep, a flower thrives.

In empty space, a presence waits.

In faithful love, the spirit strives.

Written December 2017

Silence Waits

Silence waits,
For us to wait in it.

A deep pool we cannot reach,
Without diving in.

The treasures are found in active passivity,

Coming to us as they will, not by ours.

Written December 2017

On Marriage

Marriage is not a joining of souls,
For all souls are already connected.

Marriage is not a set of promises,
For lovers always make promises, and marriage is more.

Marriage is not a contract,
An agreement between parties for mutual gain.

Marriage is not a tool,
Not a way to fix or improve something ailing.

Marriage does not occur in truth out of choice.

It happens naturally, or not at all.

The outward forms are empty,
If pursued without the inward reality.

True marriage is the joining of lives in the care of the Spirit;

Where recognised, it is right to mark and celebrate,
It is a source of joy.

True marriage needs no validation of church or state to flourish,

But those married and those around them are strengthened
By recognition of that condition.

Even those whose minds know not the Presence of the Spirit,

Can recognise the wealth and love and beauty,
Of true marriage in the Spirit.

Written November 2017

Look Beyond

You are not a Quaker because you are special.
It does not take any special ability or quality to live among Friends.
If your expressions of the Spirit are hard to understand,
That says more about you than it does the Spirit.

Everyone can understand the Light within,
Even if they cannot understand your description of it.

Everyone can learn to heed the prompting of the Divine,
Even if they cannot describe it in the terms you think proper.

The Quaker Way is not for all, but it is for all sorts.
No formal education or intellectual development prepares you,
To better apprehend what Love requires.
If your Meetings cannot show that power,
To the factory worker and street sweeper,
That is your failing, and not theirs.

But quiet your protestation.
Nor should you rush to guilt.
This is not to call you to tear down your house,
To build a new one that is without fault.
It is not to shame you
Or diminish you.

This is a call to wake up,
To look beyond your comfortable world,
Of people like you.

Written October 2017

Love Is Not A Finite Thing

Love is not a finite thing, that is spent and exhausted.
Love flows from the Spirit, and is inexhaustible;
As you live your life in the Spirit, and let its presence grow in your heart,
So too will love flow stronger and brighter in your life.

Think you that giving love here will leave you less to give elsewhere?
Think you that you can run out of love?
You have limited time, you have limited energy,
Your love is not limited.

Love is not like water, poured away and spent or imbibed and expended.
Love is like warmth, and where it is given each to the other,
It is like sharing warmth on a cold night,
Neither becoming cold to make the other warm, but warmth increased for both.

Do not be parsimonious with love, for given well it is never spent.
Yet do not give it unwisely, for if it is not returned, you can be spent.
Whether the love is given to a lover, or in good works in the world,
Given wisely it is returned, and given recklessly it is exploited.

For while you cannot run out of love, you have other resources.
And when you give love, you may expend these.
Do not exclude yourself from your love, or from your care.
In your eagerness to give love, do not overextend yourself.

Do not be jealous of love given.
If you trust your lover's judgement and loyalty,
If you communicate and trust and support,
The gain of others need be no loss to you.

Love is not a zero-sum game.

Written September 2017

The Source of Illumination

I illuminated Christ all the way to the cross;
I illuminated Siddhartha Gautama, under the Bodhi Tree;
I illuminated Mohammed, in the Cave of Hira;
I illuminated the Vedas, I illuminated the Tanakh;
Will you allow me to illuminate you?

Written August 2017

Again, and Again, and Again

Do you come to me asking for rules?

You will not receive them.

Simple algorithms, “if this, then that”,

Are not the fruit of the spirit.

Come to me with questions that are timely,

When you need an answer,

When the choice is before you.

Come to me for inspiration,

For principles,

For paths and pathfinders.

Do not come to me for maps.

 

For the land you would navigate cannot be mapped, being ever-changing.

The wisdom you would understand cannot be stated, being complex beyond your ken.

The rules that determine right action cannot be written, though you covered every page in every book in all the world.

You cannot take from me and then never need me again; if you would know how I would have you act, you must ask again, and again, and again.

Written August 2017

Countless Paths to God

Do not admonish them to be godly, but to be good.
Do not tell them to have faith, but to be faithful.
Do not advise them to follow your way, but to find their own.

For there are countless paths to God,
   and no-one can know them all;
And true faiths are innumerable,
   yet all are lived faithfully;

And the ways of God cannot be fully understood.

Yet this does not mean you should not speak.
Goodness speaks to goodness, and a faithful life speaks of God to all.
To share your way does not mean to seek to draw others to it.
Your way will be enriched by sharing theirs, and theirs by sharing yours.

Written March 2017

Love

Love does not exclude
    but nor does it embrace indiscriminately

Love does not compel change
    but it does transform

Love does not condemn
    but it does admonish

Love does not instruct
    but it does educate

Love is not forceful
    but it is powerful

Love will not cure illness
    but it will bring life joy regardless

Love cannot be taught
    but it can be learned

Love cannot be demonstrated
    but it can be experienced

Written February 2017

Look Not (or The Seekers' Challenge)

Look not to holy books;

   They are but commentary.

Look not to elders;

   Their wisdom is their own.

Look not to the natural world;

   It cannot teach you what you do not know.

Look not to ancient gods;

   They are projected shadows of ancient fears.

Look not to philosophers;

   At best you find elegant nothings, at worst, sophistry.

Look not to modern marvels;

   What you seek cannot be manufactured.

Look not to the faith of your childhood;

   It cannot be but child's faith.

Look not to your conscience;

   It is the echo of your teachers.

Look not to your dreams;

   They are the masque of your unbound mind.

Look not to your intellect;

   You are not trying to solve a puzzle.

Look not to your imagination;

   Unless your goal is fantasy.

Look not to your reason;

   It will deceive you most of all.

Look not to find Truth;

   It is nowhere you can find.

Now tell me: where shall you look?

Written October 2015