Sitting in darkness, I live between worlds of day and night, opening passages in the earth house, as I quietly render the awakened and holy

Moon lover, devotee of the stars, I keep watch on the winter sky, welcoming darkness where light burns brightest, and stars sing to the children

I step from the cold cave of regret and find myself among the living. Past and future dissolve as mist rises off the water. Disciples

Feeding my animal body, I eat prisoners’ food, listen to the warden’s drone on static-filled speakers. Though grown soft, my spirit body still flies through

Nestled in the half-moon valley, night clouds drift past in rose-tinted skies. Stirred by Earth’s turn to the sweet milk of light, the land awakens

Dawn’s first glow rises in the east, stirring the valley with the touch of life— orange blush bathes the sky, beacon lit across the divide.

Hungry for rain, earth and sea open to the vast sky. Rain gods descend, soaking the parched land and starved trees. I hunker down, wet

Grace is not forgotten— the slender threads of love’s garment are not to be undone. Scatter death’s ashes in the winter forest, and from the

As the sun begins its slow trek north, I stir within my old retreat in the dark cave of forgiveness. Buried shadows of guilt burn

Fallen like a broad maple, I lie stretched on wet ground, giving my life to bleak autumn cold. Sinking into dark earth among the vanquished,

Clouds cover the valley as dawn light breaks. The gift of life arrives once more – to poor and rich, faithful and faithless, clothed as

Unburdened by the night, freed of phantoms, I wake in gray dawn to the river-sound of traffic. Earth muted in descent, quietly I spread like

Stirred by inner fire dark does not frighten, nor gray light of winter. Carry me down to the deepest root, upend every truth. Flood of

Night winds rouse the old earth gods— rivers don’t sleep, dark forests rise, sodden roots shatter the concrete prison.       Reading of “Uprising”

As the world sleeps, night rivers flow steeped in silence. Ravenous for knowledge I devour the quiet hours, then kneel, an acolyte, in dawn’s gray