Songs of going down
will have to wait.
The drawn curtain pulled back,
a window looking out
on an uncertain sea,
waves steep and frightening.
What has never been will be,
what corrupts finds no solace.
The old psalms comfort
but new music rises.
There, off in the distance,
a hand waves, a door opens
and what I have been rushes by
like wind above the water.
Against all odds
this is a good time to raise sail.
Let the heart’s desire crack on!
This sings to me! I find especially deep resonance with your line, “What has never been will be, what corrupts finds no solace.” Thank you!
I’m singing with you John Gray. Another I will hold also – “a door opens and what I have been rushes by like wind above the water.” Time to change. Thank You Don .. the perfect presence required.
Absolutely, Don. The New York Times magazine poet can’t hope to keep up today.
Yes! “Let the hearts desire crack on!” Thanks Don!
Don, I just read the New Times Sunday Magazine poem. I was right. The poem has some cleverness but it is not equal to yours.
Thank you for this, specially the you that was is past and you yet rush on! I don’t like the line “against all odds” for sailing’s forward movement is all there is. And the photo is splendid!
wow the imagery is all a-play __ solace waiting, unfound by what corrupts – new music rising from old pslams – hearts desire will be what has never been
It is not hope, but intention that raises our sails. As Meg Wheatley has said in her new book, it is creating islands of sanity locally and by facing reality as it actually is – that this civilization, as so many before it, is collapsing. We’ve gone beyond all the tipping points so now we are in the relentless waves of samsara and neurotic thoughts. It is in the midst of the waves of collapse that we raise the sails together. It is sailing through the rough waters that the new emerges. Thanks you again, brother, for your prescience. You are among the far sighted. This poem is pivotal to what you have been writing for us.
When the waves run tall shorten sail and run with the wind ! And beware of the dangers below ! 🙂 🙂
Victory will not come merely taming a squall. It will come when the Gazelle lies with the Lion. When I abide with my Russian brother. When I harmonize with my Chinese sister. When enemies I have none. When the truth of Love prevails.
Thank you, Don.
I can sing of a new world awakening, a chance for the very old and dry to fall away. the dawn is now breaking.
“What corrupts finds no solace”….so well said!
Open the heart and live in the moment, terrifying and wonderful. Living as a true sailor on the open seas of life. It’s one thing to “talk” about living in the moment, it ‘s an entirely different experience to have the courage and trust to do so……..
I really like it too, Don. The first lines hook me & reel me in, and the lines that follow release me & set me free again – old Psalms comfort while new music rises, and off in the distance a hand waves, beckons. What a gorgeous living metaphor for this shared experience of new life being born through heart into body here & now. Wow. db
Oh the joy of raising sail and moving across uncharted waters, borne on the wind of Spirit, welcoming and thrilling in new adventure!