Category: Summer Serenade

Deep in the core of your heart
lives a knowing, something
surer than eye or word can tell,
a fixed reality, transcending
all illusion. Trust in that,
and flow in its grace.

The leaves fall to the creek floor
like careless drops from the brush of some artist.
Splattering the rocks with rust and bronze,
pale yellow and shades of green, they and the creek
make a painting of their own. But this is no accident.
There’s nothing careless here. It took eons
to produce this scene, time beyond measure.
All for this moment, this one breath of a day,
when the light and the air were just so,
and it was early September.

Petal by petal, life unfolds,
a mystery, unfathomable, its beginnings
unknown, its destination the source
of countless words and whisperings
swept across the centuries. Choose
what your heart sings as your guide,
for it knows truths beyond what words
can tell. Trust what feels most loving.
The moments are here for your experiencing.
Drink of their nourishment deeply
and with joy, opening yourself
petal by wondrous petal.

The first leaves color and fall.
The light comes later and fades
all too soon. But in the heap
of wild foliage at the roadside
pale purple asters begin
their autumn dance. And oh,
the luscious fragrance
in the air!

Let your eyes see beauty.
Hear life’s song. Meet the eyes
of a stranger with a smile.
Dare to sing, if only to yourself.
Allow yourself to savor
the pleasures of the moment,
even though the world
is filled with fear and pain.
Your one courageous act
of joy lessens the weight
of suffering that the world
has to bear. Be bold.
Shine out your light.

Somewhere in the world,
bright flowers are blooming.
Somewhere, the sun is shining down.
Lovers are embracing somewhere and
children are dreaming in their mother’s arms.
Somewhere, great music is playing
and songs are being sung. Someone
is climbing a mountain, someone
is offering prayer. Somewhere,
friends are breaking bread and weaving
memories. Somewhere, butterflies
float and colored birds take wing.
Somewhere stars are glittering
in a velvet sky. And everywhere,
always, the Great Yes unfolds
in waves of limitless love.

As September knows, beginings matter.
(Happily, they come with every breath.)
So she flings flowers on the creek bank,
spikes of purple for valor, yellows for warmth,
lacy white for purity. A breeze blows.
The creek ripples with joy. Her opening act
complete, September dances on,
sure that all her days will be filled
with color and joy and grace.

It’s not the fact that the sun is shining, or that chocolate is at hand, or that she loves you. You can have all of that and more, and it won’t mean a thing if you’re not at peace in the first place.

The best such things can do for you is to let you relax into the peace that’s already there, and always has been.

Find that, and your inner sun will always be shining, she will love you more deeply than even she knows, and you won’t’ care at all whether the world is made of chocolate or missing it altogether.

Remember? Remember, and let it glow.

Regardless of how things may seem,
regardless of confusion, conflict and pain,
always there is that which is pure
and simple and singing with joy,
that which gives balance
and the assurance of grace.
Go about your day, then, with gladness.
These blossoms are reminders
that you are known and dearly loved.

Beside the still waters, the wildflowers grow,
one for each living being displaced
by flood or drought or fire. Nodding
in the rain, they whisper songs of comfort,
the strains rising like prayers.
The soil beneath your feet, they say,
is home. And all the air is yours
and the hours. And though we are far away
and mere wildflowers, our essence
flows to you to lend you strength
and to assure you that hands
will come to lift you, and hours
will come to soothe.