Dimensions of Abundant Living

We have Hope that darkness may be dispelled by morning light. In the darkness of life's trials we so often forget to look up, yet the cerulean skies with wisps of cirrus magic have been there all along. Hope is what enables us to traverse the currents of life, the rocks of stormy shores. It is what keeps us getting back up when we have been knocked down by adversity. It is what enables us to look up.

I once wondered if it was at all possible to think about anything besides illness and death, or to at least have them pushed to the edge of consciousness, if for but an hour. At this juncture I have found this to be true. Perhaps you are now at that place where I could not think of anything but. Perhaps, you are in the turbulent white water of divorce or unemployment or are caught in the vortex of the legal system.

It is my sincere wish for you that these poems can help you climb above your challenges and to experience the grand wonders that life can offer. I have been granted far more than my share of life's bounty.

"Ascent" records the cathartic adrenalin rush that comes from the early morning anticipation of a final ascent of an immense ice-clad massif in the Andes mountains. Shared challenges can be especially enriching for friendships. There is no better place to build trust and memories than 8,000 meters up a granite wall. The view is spectacular on top.

Today we may feel like we are crawling in the debris of life's calamities. We may well be doing exactly that. But, tomorrow you may be an iridescent wonder if free flight. "Mariposa" describes the possibility for transformation in our lives.

Some months ago I was in a series of professional meetings at an international medical congress. I wandered into one of the meeting rooms to listen to a program on interface engines to connect different computer applications programs. What I got instead was an awe-inspiring example of a fellow human being overcoming a severe life challenge and rising to great heights. "Visionary" preserves my encounter with this inspiring example of abundant living.

On a hot summer night several large moths flung themselves at the bright light emanating from my kitchen window. The glass barrier did not stop them from their attempts in gaining their objective. "Night Flight" is their emergence from darkness. Perhaps, your victory over darkness can be chronicled one day to mark the way for others.


Ascent

Ephemeral fog of sleep disperses,
pleasant possibilities raising nebulous awareness.

Aromatic pleasures of delight perking,
lofty fantasies erupt into consciousness.

Last residue of night vaporizes,
driven off by rising solar brilliance.

Silhouettes of lofty places once ebony,
transmute to aureate towers of Olympian challenge.

Cobalt vaults give way to azure,
stellar gold sublimating to platinum.

Others, gathering, restless, hopeful,
share rarified communion of anxious anticipation.

Murmuring voices musing in alpine air, pause.
Another, far, higher, stronger beckons.

One goes from our midst, silent, determined.
We, seekers, follow his footsteps to the sky.

Mighty massifs radiant with crystalline shrouds,
send our earthbound souls soaring.

We are meant to climb dreams.

Mariposa

Your transient beauty transfixes me,
a worm once, now a beauteous impossibility.

Once consigned to crawling,
you wing to the solar nectar;
on those improbabilities of splendor.

I see you dancing in radiance; as I crawl,
you tell me the great secret:

Tomorrow I will fly.


Visionary

I wandered into your lecture hall today, expectant of an opportunity to learn facts. The program announced you would tell me something about scientific mysteries. Instead you taught me of the greater mystery of the grand capacity of the human spirit to overcome challenge. You demonstrated one is capable of excellence, in spite of the greatest of hardships and loss.

For a number of minutes I sat as you delivered a flawless presentation with a perfect slide series. Looking about the room you keep the audience with you, not missing a point in your presentation, not once looking at your slides for prompts, not once looking to your notes for cues. This would have been a most impressive program for any of us. For you it was truly astounding.

Only after you told us, did we realize you are totally blind. The most important things I learned today in your lecture had nothing to with science or computing technology, it had to do with seeing the possibilities for personal growth; to seeing the opportunities from standing up to the challenge of losing one's sight. You who have no eyes have taught me how to see things that really matter.


Night Flight

Ebony blackness recedes from life's window,
driven off by radiant Light from within.

Uncertainty of outer darkness transmutes,
the Way marked by brilliant beacons of Hope.

Transcendent possibilities are illuminated,
giving lift to wings of immortal imagination.