Still I Dance

“Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.”

― Rumi

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everything hurts

and what doesn’t hurt

doesn’t work

sometimes it seems like

I am defined by my wounds

oh I have them

my body is laced with scars

white lines on knees (5)

and shoulders

where tendons and cartilage and bone

have been repaired

my body carries its wounds clearly

not so clearly the scars

on heart and mind and soul

lost love

bad choices

people hurt and betrayed

things that make my heart

my soul

ache

and still

in this broken vessel

the Sacred dwells

and still

love stirs

and I stand again

and breathe

again

and try

again

and

the dance goes on

Light in the Darkness

“Light will someday split you open”

― Hafez

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what I carry in my soul

what ferments there

down deep at the center of my being matters

if I carry darkness

soon the dank rot of fear and hate

will multiply and spread

and I will implode

collapsing in upon myself

becoming a shadow

a cipher

walking the earth

bitter and fearful

sucking light out of the world

and leaving a trail of darkness

if what I carry is light

soon the light

which cannot be contained with grow

and soon burst forth unbidden

splitting open

heart and soul

and opening me to the world

opening me to the source of all Light

and there will be less of me

(that is what happens when we are broken open)

and more of the Sacred

there will be less fear

and more hope

less hate

and more love

A Sacred one

In dark time

fill me with your light!

then break me open

We have each other

We are all just walking each other home

                                                Ram Dass

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in the dark

we stumble

obstacles are strewn in our way

dangers abound

we walk in fear

afraid of Ebola

afraid of “them” (the “other” Party)

afraid even

of God

home sick

we yearn to find out way home

as we make that shadowy journey

it is best to hold hands

and sing loudly

we have

each other