At age 14 as a freshman a most critical event occurred. I was introduced to stream of consciousness as a way of writing...and what I had been doing all my writing life was supremely impacted. A day does not go by that I do not write...some thing of prose, poetry, correspondance and commentary. I am what? druid? woman? mother? lover? a drop in the ocean? all of the above. All rights reserved. Copyright 2005 Deborah Drake.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thoughts for the Day
In that spirit I offer the following reflections...
"When you eventually see through the veils to how things really are,you will keep saying again and again,this is certainly not like we thought it was!"-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
"No one knows what makes the soul wake up so happy! Maybe a dawn breeze has blown the veil from the face of God." - Rumi
Suleyman Hayati Dede, 'grandfather of the dervishes,' described the meditation practice of "the Turn" as follows:
"We do not turn for ourselves. We turn around in the way we do so that the light of God may descend upon the earth. As you act as a conduit in the Turn, the light comes through the right hand, and the left hand brings it into this world."
"Love is that flame that once kindled burns everything,and only the mystery and the journey remain."-- Rumi
Sunday, November 23, 2008
And who is this aliveness
Self-contained heat and passion
I am like the ember in the fire pit
End of the day, heard so much
Took it all in and gave heat back.
Before becoming ashes again; one with earth
Seed.
Self contained wisdom and beauty
Then came the sun and the rain
And the dark soil softened my skin
And I burst forth a white crocus
Too soon picked by a child; happy to be chosen.
Song.
A woman wrapped her arms about a tree
and sang me all of once
I was released and returned to heaven
by way of the wind
What more could I ask for?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Chuang Tsu
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Love and Release
To hold and be held
To attend to and be attended to so sweetly
To have direct experience
of the core of all that one desires so fully
Who would say no to this offering?
Knowing it is to be bittersweet in the earthly plane
I will tell myself as many times as I must
I love and release
I love and release
I love and release
And the taste of honey
is on my tongue once more
And I know I have been visited again
by the Spirit of Guidance
The Peace of Wild Things
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
By Wendell Berry
haikus for the dulcimer
stonework crawls up the walls
ivy vines made of shale
108 strings to tune
a devotional practice
tuning in for God
A few missed notes
part of the beauty that is
true live music played
8.17.08
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Hope and Optimism
"The difference between hope and optimism: Optimism is based on the facts - it looks pretty good out there and it's going to get better. Whereas hope - it doesn't look good at all, but we're going to take the leap of faith to create new visions based on possibilities that become contagious to encourage people to engage in rogue actions always against the odds, no guarantee whatsoever, that's hope."- Cornel West
How often has hope served me. -DeborahTuesday, September 16, 2008
haikus after morning's walking meditation
on dewed grass that calls to birds
the worms await you
messenger birds seek
and find with every inquiry
fresh morsels of life
would i rather be
the bird or the worm this morn
eating or eaten?
so long as i am
moving toward the One i have
no real preference
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Farewell to Goldbar 8.18.08
where visits to this sacred site
are concerned. Tears fall.
Friday, August 15, 2008
the vision...the mission
Peaceful Calming PRESENCE,
Transparent, Connected,
QUIET STRENGTH.
I am EMPATHIC PRIESTESS and POET.
I shimmer Divinity.
As Graceful Power
my purpose is to honor and surrender my sorrow,
embrace and express JOY,
and dance with the Divine.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
haiku dialogue
opening wide, crying out
new pearls, haiku-dew
dear anonymous:
and who are you that
you write so beautifully
hide not, poet, friend
to be continued, pretty please
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
haiku trio for you
a fine time for new ventures
maple leaves are gossips
Let come to pass the
last days of summer gestures
foretelling sweet tales
And kindred souls pick
summer berries till the gloaming
for breakfast in bed
Friday, June 06, 2008
Meditation for the Day
Love and the law of Moses
Let your gestures be alive, spontaneous. Let your own awareness decide your lifestyle, life pattern. Don't allow anybody else to decide it. That is a sin, to allow anybody else to decide it.
A famous story about Moses: He was passing through a forest and he saw a man praying. The man was saying such absurd things that Moses had to stop. What the man was saying was profane, sacrilegious. He was saying, "God, you must be feeling sometimes very alone--I can come and be always with you like a shadow. Why suffer loneliness when I am here? And I am not a useless person either--I will give you a good bath, and I will take all the lice from your hair and your body..."
Thursday, June 05, 2008
on having faith
amid the thick night airs
come the changes
changes of heart and
shadows taking form grow full
but I stay the course
telling not a one
of my deep concerns, unfounded
for I still believe
I believe in love
grace visits those who hold true
as sunlight at dawn
dark nights and bad dreams
have no power here, for peace
moved in for good
the memory of all that
and my mind takes a wander
down a memory lane
remembering all the same
things said and done
for love
i sang to the trees
i kissed the wind
i wrote the words
my heart declared
my soul confirmed
and day did come
as night did pass
the memory of all that
no, they can't take that away
KEEPING QUIET ~ Pablo Neruda
Monday, May 26, 2008
an inventory of a restless soul
of the angel of courage on my desktop
beside the iron pig statue with wings
i bought for myself to celebrate
my commitment to self-employment
one piece of apophyllite to keep me clear in all my conversations
a chipped statuette of a bride and groom
the one memento i've got of my great-grandmother
the one i loved so dearly
more than any other relative
buddha in a mandala
a kindergarten photo of my dear child
with a smirk that makes you wonder
what does she know already?
and i pray she remembers
a plaster mother mary 1-1/2" tall with fine details
a string of seven red buddha beads
and a japanese bell to mark each day
tomorrow's mail to post
and a pile of chinese fortune cookie treasures
promising health and wealth
"in bed"
an altar have i made
of this desk i write at and work at
long and happy hours
surrounded by old friends and new hopes
the perc test
can be simple
you might have to wait
10 minutes
or a day and a night
for the soil's reply to water
percolation goes on in my head
long after the soil responds
or doesn't
loam, clay, sand, pebbles
what am I?
what are you?
perhaps together we can offer a young plant a place to grow?
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
to the muses of my blessed life
creates many good reasons
to stay close to home
and many wonderful things
need no more than two good friends
i.
canopy of trees
heavy with leaves and
tomorrow's flowers
ii.
trees that bear no fruit
are yielding still to beauty
by simply blooming
iii.
gentle rain could soak
my warm skin like thirsty soil
if I but step outside
to walk and wander
not aimlessly, but freely
with sweet intentions
a great intelligence
keeps me company, all times
all seasons, so fair
Thursday, May 08, 2008
and I see how wise I am actually being
I look around for what next to release
Confident and trusting completely
this grand intelligence that will send back
that intended to keep me company a while.
Quiet vitality poured into an empty vessel
long empty of wine or water
life's waters spilled over the top in moments
thirsty earth and heart and grass and seeds
drank deeply and bloomed
Oh how they all bloomed
Look at what spring has brought in for the dinner table
and look who joins us
night after day after night
Monday, April 07, 2008
To All the Ones I've Loved Before
Rather, it is an open letter to the Ones I've ever had the fortune
of serendipitously meeting
only then to fall in love with,
fall out of love with,
never to speak again
or ever after friends,
fields will go fallow and after a frozen winter and a muddy spring,
crocuses would bloom again that I could see THEM for all their beauty and oh the blessings!
And then it comes to me: "I have yet to mortally die because of a broken heart. What a thing to celebrate!"
"I have yet to die because of a broken expectation set by me? What a sweet and glorious revelation."
"Will I ever be able to love again in the same crooked way?"
I suspect not.
I may go to a fallow place a while
I will surrender my body to the earth again
Oh Gaia that my tears can nourish seeds in the soil
That I might cocoon awhile
Wrap myself in self-generated silk
Sleep awhile
That I might emerge for yet another season
A butterfly with a simple mission.
If you know how to love...
begins and everything ends,
and there is a time for beginning
and there is a time for ending,
and there is no wound in it.
One is not wounded, one simply knows the season is over.
One is not in despair, one simply understands and one thanks the other:
"You gave me so many beautiful gifts. You gave me new visions of life, you opened a few windows I might never have opnede on my own.
Now the time has come that we separate and our ways part."
Not in anger, not in rage, not with a grudge,
not with any complaint,
but with tremendous gratitute,
with great love,
with thankfulness of heart.
If you know how to love,
you will know how to separate.
Osho
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
A new year's eve memory
And how might I spend this time?
I've quizzed myself and aced it!
Sitting very still a while
Drinking in the silence
Capturing like fireflies, a wishlist for the coming months
Releasing a spider that found it's way in from the cold
One last cup of tea to sip this year
A final wash up of cups and teapot
A deep intake of night air to fuel and color what dreams may come
Bedtime rituals sacred and mundane
Make for yet again another memorable slumber