The sun rises
and I rise,
welcoming the light
of summer’s warmth
spread across the sea.
I rest within layers of stone,
take flight with sparrows,
dream of dogs
and weave word spells.
I am healed
and I am healer,
no longer waiting
for those who came before,
alive in the mystery –
a cape upon my shoulders
and blanket under starlight.
Nowhere to go,
no one to be,
I am here.
Reading of “Alive in the Mystery” with music by Colter Wall
I am here. How simple. It takes no great intellect to see and say and know — know mystery. To be alive in the mystery is poetry in presence. I know your presence Don — nowhere to go, nothing to do, sitting with you, great heart open to know Mystery. Grateful
Don — Love it! To BE in the moment = “I am here.” = “Alive in the Mystery.” This is the key to EVERYTHING! Why did it take me so long to learn this? I’m just grateful that it have. And you have too, my friend.
Yes. And again, a quiet, inarguable yes.
“nowhere to go, no one to be…” I just love this. As I also love the bright, calm and sweet aura of this poem. There is such release in the peace of “I am here.” Just beautiful, Don. Here is wonder. I embrace the mystery, and you my friend.
“Peace Be Unto You — That the Peace of God May Be Known on Earth.”
— Note to Self …
“…Nowhere to go, no one to be…” Yes. It is an answer, or coda, to a thought I had when I was 28 years old, and Martin Exeter passed away. Feeling a little adrift that night, old lyrics from a CSN song expressed what I was feeling at the moment: “…I’m down on my knees, [there’s] nobody left to please…”
Yes. Nobody to please, nowhere to go, no one to be. I am here, and what’s next is what’s next. Thank you, Don.
Don, I think you have written your own mighty yawp. You’re getting old, man, if dogs instead of coeds are now in your dreams. Anyone who has met Don Hynes has never doubted that this man is here. Glad of it.
How beautifully you weave your words today, Don. I truly love this poem. As soon as I set eyes on your photo, before I read the words, I felt a sense of peace. Your choice of music, with a bit of Irish flavor (?) seemed perfect, knowing your ancestral roots. What a preface to your expression of awareness in the present! Thank you, dear Word Smith!
Yep, Don…that says it all!
WORDSPELLER. TRUTHTELLER.
Thank you Don. I love the way weaved these words. I would love to share attunement with you sometime – as one healed and as healer. 🙏
I join the many others who feel this poem “hit the mark.” What is really impactful for me in those perfect last three lines is “no one to be.” How the feeling clings to us that we must “be” someone …
I love this, Don. Exquisite on so many levels. Simple, yet profound. We’re all alive in the mystery and rejoice that the mystery is solved because “I am here.” Eloquent words with such a lovely spirit behind them.