Holy Place

This holy place to stand and help me rise
Where I may pause and let my eyes go free,
Where I may wonder how this Earth and skies
Could be presented graciously to me,
Where I may question what it means to be,
Where sound turns sacred with or without rhyme–
Play that song for me another time.


Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Amaya is hosting with the theme “holy place”.  The poem’s form is a Chaucerian stanza.

Photo: “A Sunset Somewhere”

Video: lightomega’s presentation of Miten and Deva Premal’s So Much Magnificence. More about the song.

Advent Darkness

This darkness isn’t such that I
Can brighten it by light I bring.
No laws of nature taint the sky.
No bonds bind it so it can’t sing.

The power failed, but should we wait
For what might not come speedily?
Some of us would hesitate,
But darkness helps our hearts to see.

We’re thankful for the light that’s near.
Praise sound, but not with our ears solely.
Our voices stir the darkness here
Repeating, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”


Text: This was originally published in Ancient Paths Literary Magazine.

Photo: “Decorations” by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Sound of Sense

Robert Frost called it the “sound of sense”. I bust that phrase into two and think of it as “sound” and “sense”, but Frost more accurately describes the reality of poetry. Still he doesn’t completely describe poetry, because no one can. That’s a good thing. It gives the rest of us and our descendants for the next hundreds of millions, or billions, of years something new to do.

My view of sense is taking me into two different directions. After reading Jane Kohut-Bartel’s “Song of the Nightingale”, I want to understand better the 8th century Japanese collection, the Man’yōshū. After reading Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays, I want to learn more about Hafiz (and Rumi) and the theme of forgiveness. Along these two ways of sense may the sound that’s right appear.

TWO PATHS LEAD AHEAD
SNOW HIDES SUMMER’S LEAFY WAYS
BOTH LOOK NOW LIKE ONE


Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday where Toni is hosting asking us to write about our plans.

Photo: “Future Mystery” by the author.