First Darkness

-------First Darkness-------

To become the light

held inside,

first darkness

I must approach.

Avoiding grief

allows

the pain

to deepen,

But tending the soil 

around its roots

encourages

the flower open.

-------

Undivided

-------Undivided-------

Can there be freedom 

without servitude?

Summer 

without a Fall?

Some words hold meaning 

by contrast 

to an Other.

And some,

in their Mother Tongue,

meander

Like rivers

to the 

sea.

I wish to someday live

in a world 

without prisons,

In a circle

with all 

creation,

Undivided 

and 

allowing

The rain to fall,

as it does,

upon 

our naked skin.

-------

New Dawn

-------New Dawn-------

Every child

hears the music

and 

knows the dance.

Let that brave spirit

rise up like sunshine 

in your chest

And move this world

from the muck 

and murder 

of war

Into a new dawn,

where Mother Earth 

performs her love song

Through 

each 

and all 

of us.

-------

The Undercommons

-------The Undercommons-------

When by this world

we feel

forgot,

Mother Nature

they

have not.

For through the cracks

of each

our 

sorrow

Rise up 

plantain,

red clover

and yarrow.

-------

Wide Open

-------Wide Open-------

Sunshine feeds the forest,

ferns 

and all 

the little flowers.

Each a part 

of the one entire,

forever

and ever becoming.

Like this,

Love 

has cracked my shell 

wide open,

And grown

the seed

into

a garden.

-------

Present With All

-------Present With All-------

Do not mistake solitude

as a running away

from this world.

It is 

here

Where one 

is present 

with all

And every

thing.

-------

Mother Tongue

-------Mother Tongue-------

Born

of a

place,

Its voice

moves through

the child.

And they speak

with

words

Like the hills

and rivers

of home.

-------