Purpose

After the conference I asked him

how he found himself in that role.  

It's not my job to do this, he said.

I just do it, like I breathe

like my heart beats.

it's got nothing to do with me.

but when it comes out

I think it wasteful and stupid

not to do something with it.

Put it this way.

If you have a garden

and in it wild strawberries grow.

You'd be daft not to eat them

just because you didn't grow them.

and you'd be a bit mean not to share them

as there's more growing than you can eat by yourself.

I hadn't a clue what he meant

but nonetheless it sort of seemed to make sense.

Lost and Found

you can get lost online

the net is so full of mazes

and traps

you can get lost in the woods

nature is so brimming

with density of life

you can get lost in the mind

thoughts dazzle and dismay

until you can't see straight

you can find a way

you can find the way

you can realise

there is no online

no nature

no mind

just this

and it is free and easy

Tunnel Vision

There may be light at the end of the tunnel

but there may be no light

indeed, there may be no tunnel

except in our warped vision

no tunnel

therefore no light needed

perhaps we are already all the light we need

Inauguration Tao

Joe Biden became President today

I watched, transfixed

my small self cheering the return to decency, normality, sense

Then the old man, Chuang, whispered in my ear

"Who knows what's good or bad in this world?"

Without Trump, perhaps no Biden

Without Obama, perhaps no Trump

Without Hitler, perhaps no Churchill

Without Stalin, no me

Without famine, no me

Who knows?

No one except Fate

and Fate has no tongue to tell what it knows

rainbow ribbons

as rainbow ribbons slipped from her hair

and multi-speckled gems lit the eternal sky

we smiled at the universe

hoped for endless peace

and drank cool clear water till the dawn came

and the dawn did come

Impact

impact, effect

which direction, who knows?

but try to flow my actions and words

in the river of goodness

hard to assess

impact

but better to risk error

than stepping out

of the flow

and just watching the river flow by

without you

Basho's Frog

Basho's frog goes pop.

I read it in an old book.

No frog. No Basho!

Of the Night

the night falls fast

winter here

darkness engulfs nature

animals go to sleep

others hunt

the time of life

the time of death

its beauty entices

and brings fear.