you foot soldiers,
who yell from your solid ranks
and dig moral trenches
embedding yourselves
in self-defined virtues
patting yourselves on the back,
won’t survive when the chariots come
with their innovations and rapid maneuvers
and the flash of their wheels in the sun
if you don’t learn to adjust
and be flexible, knowing your failings,
you won’t survive this defeat
your offers of gifts won’t work
this is not a puritan country
rigidity of thought is never a blessing
if you don’t regroup or retreat
you will lose every battle
you have to learn all these lesson
if you ever hope to return
poetry
Day 29 ~ Rumi, the well-named cat
Contemplative, appreciative, grateful,
my cat Rumi, the best of our tribe,
knew how to survive.
I am quite sure of that.
As at home in a crowd
or in seclusion
nothing could phase this cat.
From the moment i saw him,
contendly caged at the refuge, i knew
that this was a very calm chap.
When i took him with me
to my whimsical house,
where a hidden mirror
out in the garden
reflected a profusion of flowers,
Rumi gazed, with no consternation,
curled his generous tail softly about him
and fell asleep in the sun.
Affectionate yes, never pushy,
he was the one who followed his duty
in sustaining the peace of our house.
I found my own centre
in watching him watching a trickle of water
run from drain-pipe to gutter
with close attention
and the eye of a silent saint.
He showed me the importance of flow.
He had no need to know where it came from
and didn’t much care where it went.
Ah the purring of Rumi, a mantra.
Rumi was heaven sent.
postcard from the ledge
i am here alone my darling,
here without you,
right on the side of a cliff
very high up on a ledge
watching a sunset
with no one to hold my hand
lost in my head
losing my rhythm and reason
not breathing as i should
in two senses
i am very close to the edge
Day 28 ~ Blue and White
my favourite colours
are powder blue with white
and my father has painted my room
and my trike
happy to give what I like
I love the smell of fresh new paint
and windows flung open wide
it’s cosy in here but full of air
i watch the stars from my bed
the curtains never drawn at night
the summer skies are azure blue
filled with fluffy white clouds
sheep out to pastures high above
in gentle flocks they flow
wandering out of sight
in the distance beyond the trees
and the haze of several miles
is a blue and white water tower
striped, it stands, a lighthouse
far away from the sea
they are going to demolish it soon they say
I protest, I pray, I cry
surely someone will listen to me
but very soon it is gone
first lessons learned in sorrow
beauty can be destroyed
I don’t rule the world
here today, gone tomorrow
Day 27 ~ In Defence of Loki
He’s a trickster and a liar.
We must accept that fact.
He does look like he’s crazy,
Just as he intends.
Loki spends his time alone
pondering that master plan
until the time is right
with everything in place.
He knows and can foretell
how events will go.
He sits back and watches
as his cunning plans unfold.
Slighted by his family
He manipulates their weaknesses
Which keeps him well amused
Until the time is right.
He’ll embarrassed all the gods
And make them look like fools
With his flouting of their rules,
But he’s saved their bacon too.
They are very cruel
And far too serious.
Loki likes a game.
He sits about and laughs.
But look what they did to him.
They dragged him to a cave
And bound him to the rocks
With a serpent spilling poison.
He can’t have been so bad
His wife tried to help him
Before despairing of the task.
He must have earned some love.
One day the time will come
When Asgard falls at last
With no Loki to save them then
And he will take revenge.
I have a sense of humour too.
And I can read the signs.
Day 26 ~ Unicorns
The places we have been
are pictures to us now,
postcards I imagine
posting to myself,
written with the details
of scents and sounds and words.
We climbed that ancient tower
to see across the miles.
Miracle of miracles,
we leaned against each other
walking hand in hand.
The scenes we saw before
are now as rare as unicorns.
Day 25 ~ Now and then a silence
Now
Now,
Now!
Now and then a silence.
Take this breath and hold it there, fill your lungs with scented air
Watch the sky, let all fears out in one sweet living sigh
Bala-laaaaa-lala-labaa-lalah-lala-la-la-lah she says softly, I shake my head but like this lack of words.
I like the lack of sense. I like the present tense of soothing sounds around me.
The ant that scurries by is red of hue. He drinks the morning dew and lifts
the seeds upon his back.
He is my guide and fellow.
Sunset pink and purple merging into yellow
So above, so below. So my heart seeks out the gold.
I have been told to follow.
I like my feet firm on the ground connecting me to earth
To birth and signs, seasons of renewal repeating over aeons.
Samsara, samsara, sighing through the meadow flowers and grasses.
Samsara.
Day 23 ~ L-O-V-E
L is a seat to rest upon
O is omega, origin, oh! so complete
V is valuable, verified, voluptuous
E is the gate we keep closed in protection
Love is the sum of all these things
No one letter completes it alone
Day 22 ~ What the Sufi Said
It is worse to be wounded by words than a sword
If the sword be not driven too deep.
But words you will keep, tormenting your heart.
The more so if they be true.
The truth and the lies dwell on the same tongue
but the mouth kept closed will gather no flies.
The heart of a fool is in his mouth;
the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.
In every false step there is something good
A lesson is there to be earned,
For he who wants honey must bear the bees stings
Accepting with grace, remembering what he has learned.
Nobody has ever lived in the way he would wish.
Many are the roads that don’t lead to the heart.
To live a good life you must love what you find,
Good works are the best place to start.
Day 21 ~ Myfanwy
Pardon me, dictate to me,
O Myfanwy
I submit to your tyranny,
for why did i neglect you?
Pale maiden of the wayside
Fie now, regard me as a fool
Pale man that I am, all remiss
Fie now, did you not see it all?
Parted, we knew then. O Myfanwy,
I had good need to be so hard.
I cherish all of it, O Myfanwy.
I thank you well you searched so far.
Why did I not avoid them
and keep you always near me?
I am chased by other laws, Myfanwy
To gallows, giddy, final, high
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