Dimensions of Peace and Trust

As we face the challenges of life, the vagaries of friendship, the pain and isolation of illness and death, the slippage of time, we often find trust and peace more and more important in daily living. Lessons of trust and peace come in some most unusual ways.

While in the Canadian Rockies a travelling companion and I hired horses and a guide to ascend to the glacier fed lakes above tree line. I quickly learned that the world seems very different from the back of a horse skittering along loose shale on a cliff face. "Struggle" chronicles my realization of this difference and the challenge of giving up control. Yet, there was a fine view on top.

During a Sunday afternoon hike (the same ominous Sunday that yielded "Lament") in one of the state parks, a large blue and bronze butterfly landed on my hand and flexed its wings for some ninety seconds. Myriad children about me were entranced by this, as was I. "Trust" recounts this exquisite experience. Taking risk to trust can produce profound benefits.

In the spring I went to a community blood donation center to give blood. While there I observed a seventeen-year old girl giving moral support to an eighteen-year old boy who was making his first blood donation. While he conversed with the nurse from the cot next to mine I learned these two not-quite adults were planning marriage soon. The sense of fragility, idealism, and innocence in their persona compelled "Innocence."

"Solar Hope" offers a different view of the warming peace that is available to us in our cold nights. In darkness many splendors can be seen once we get used to the blackness.

"Repose" documents an absolutely splendid evening walk during the summer with a kaleidoscopic sky producing myriad magical images. I had a profound sense of contentment during this time as I watched lightning give a brilliant lavender glow to the interior of a towering thunderhead in the distance.

Recently I was charged with telling a dear friend of the death of someone important in her life. About an hour's time elapsed before I was able to inflict her with this harsh news. During that hour I followed her in a second car on the interstate and pondered the sense of knowing important things in Jan's future she had yet to learn of. In the mean time she continued in a happy state of mind. "Ignorance" is a reminder that it is not always good to know all the details of the future. It has the potential for eroding our present tranquility. My breaking of the news certainly did shatter my friend's tranquility.

At sunset in British Columbia I was driving through a wine making region and happened to see a man and woman walking hand-in-hand in a field at sunset, obviously enjoying their time. In "Reflections" the inner warmth of spirit made them unaware of the coolness of lowering night.

I was recently asked to make some comments about "Thanksgiving". It occurred to me that we find it easy to be thankful for good things but not for the likes of cancer, unemployment, and death. It seems that true thanksgiving includes contentment and acceptance in the cold winters of life.

Standing on a fire tower on top of Little Scaly Mountain at 3 AM I was quite taken with the view of the moon dropping over the far mountains. As the moon disappeared, "Darkness" yielded a fine cosmic display of the heavens.


Struggle

Putting my feet in Your stirrups,
I relinquish firm faith in myself.

Your dependability unknown to me,
I yield closely coveted control.

Our alpine journey cloaked in mystery,
blissful ignorance masks corporal risk.

Burdened with gravity's persistent pull,
we traverse transcendent towers of granite.

Mere steps from the foreboding abyss,
I fight down urges to take the reins.

Inner urges to not believe in You
are as compelling as the chasm is deep.

Fighting fulminant fear of letting go,
we ascend beyond leaden clouds of doubt.

In my own strength I wandered below,
shivering in gray rains of fearfulness.

Trusting in you, not knowing you,
you carry me to grand cerulean vistas.

With You, I can do all things.


Trust

Iridescent blues and bronzes glowing,
your royal garments proclaim grand majesty.

In our realm kings stay in castles,
in Yours court is held in heaven.

Descending from your airborne Kingdom,
Hope entered my earthbound realm.

Awed by Your innocence I held out my hand.
Taking ultimate risk, You alighted.

I, entranced by Your fragile beauty,
held my breath, lest You take flight.

Undaunted by my ability to crush Your spirit,
You let me touch radiance from Above.

Another One once entered here and died.


Innocence

Your adolescent lives, new blooms of hope,
bask in grand expectations of distant futures.

Dreamy-eyed, looking into each other's souls,
you see the world as a playground in the sun.

Secretly, suspecting there must be clouds,
today there is but a sunny dance of life.

Expecting nuptial bells to favor fantasy,
they instead bring dirty diapers, debts, dishes.

Catapulted from unknowing adolescence,
adulthood offers you 9 to 5 and the IRS.

Out here in the future there is much work,
protecting your youthful dreams from reality.

I wish you well, the world needs dreamers.


Repose

Cool cobalt of evening extinguishes
raging fires within my inflamed soul.

Solar fires quenched in nocturnal coolness,
my soul basks in gentle Winds of wonder.

Cumulus sentinels scud across night;
waltzing among the empyrean diamonds.

Darkness sparkling with winged iridescence,
fireflies choreograph luminous dances of life.

Rising with quiet majesty beyond the Eastern Gate,
Earth's Guardian robes me in finest platinum.

Quiet wisps of tranquility dwelling on evening breeze,
I stand open-mouthed in silent awe.

I am at peace.


Ignorance

Smiling, laughing into unlived eras,
your optimism thrives on the unknown.

Placid waters before your bow,
your nescience nurtures Numinous Mercy.

Your future breaking through to my present,
I alone fear turbulence cast before you.

An intermediary in time confronting me,
makes me harbinger of impending anguish.

Cosmic wonders eclipsed by tempest,
circadian darkness mocks imminent pain.

As custodian of somber knowledge,
I grieve for your trials, yet endured.

I bless you with innocence a bit longer,
for sufficient are the cares of today.


Reflection

Circadian frenzy subsiding with dusk,
sunset gilds life with aureate delight.

Vermillion massifs of granite ascend,
sheltering your hopes from nocturnal cold.

Beneath deepening empyrean cobalt,
you walk hand in hand, musing.

Gentle breezes refreshing your souls,
shared affections bind your destinies.

Inner Radiance warming your hearts,
the crystalline chill of spirit melts.

Supersonic ebony of night overtaking you,
darkness illuminates memories with stars.

Dreams come in the deep shadows of life.


Solar Hope

Eastern sky is shrouded in cobalt,
nailed to the firmament with diamonds.

Western sky transmutes from hot fire,
giving way to cool cerulean.

Nightfall overtakes us at sonic speed,
pushing another day beyond the horizon.

In eclipsing darkness hope arises;
His crimson contrail dividing the heaven.

The Star of old led the way,
guiding the expectant through night.

In your twilight, follow the Son.


Thanksgiving

Autumnal brilliance illuminates being,
spectral delights filling our days.

Linking, loving, laughing, living,
we smile. Shadows have no place here.

Radiant renewal rekindles community;
jet wonders traversing the abyss between us.

Indulging remembrances of goodness past,
savory aromas of delight swarm sentience.

Misty-eyed memories melding minds,
we gather gratefully, graciously.

Emerald and cerulean acquiesce to
the crystalline monochromes of winter.

In the quiet Rest of winter,
we rebuild for the eternal Spring ahead.

Please pass the turkey.


Darkness

We wander through Darkness,
Brilliance driven away by shadow.

Electric suns drive away night,
yet the Darkness remains.

The universe is ...
to us, but a memory
in a sodium-fogged haze of orange.

On top of the world we are,
Haunting in its lunar beauty.

Solar fusion on the far side,
a sterling Gibbous pendant on this side.

It slips away, beyond the mountains,
Suddenly we see.

Darkness illuminates galactic fires,
Star-studded fury making no shadow.

A fellow traveller opens her eyes,
she stumbles no more.

The Way is clear,
we hold hands going down.