A Blessing for Presence

May you awaken to the mystery of being here

And enter the quiet immensity of your own presence

May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses

May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon

May you respond to the call of your gift

And find the courage to follow its path

May the flame of anger free you from falsity

May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and anxiety never linger about you

May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul

May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention

May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul

May you experience each day as a sacred gift

Woven around the heart of wonder

- John O’Donohue

In

And the forest replied a resounding “Yes”

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Carrying her sweetest fragrance of a newly born spring

Her unbidden breeze spoke

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

Into my lungs she travelled

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

Her purest mystery 

Of an embrace of trust

Into my heart she travelled 

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

My eyes sting from the love of her

And my heart aches at the magnificence of her

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

I breath her In

And she fills me

The simplicity of her

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

My breath In, with her breath

In, she says

In

I breath In, her

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

- Elisa Bragg

Whoever, Whatever, However, Wherever and If Ever

Whoever, whatever, however, wherever and if ever you are

Let me find you and connect with you.

Allow me to sync with you.

I want to be enveloped by you, surrounded by you and constantly be accompanied by you.

So that you guide me and steer me to be the best version of myself that I can be.

So that through my actions, my behaviour and my way of being, I can allow the feeling of happiness,

Of pride, of security and contentment to flourish in those that I love.

So that I too can know how to receive and accept the love and support of others.

So that I am able to rediscover how to love myself and have an awareness of my self worth.

To be able to act with humility and gratitude in all that I do.

And then through my actions, I may feel fulfilled in myself and with myself and thereby,

Understanding and accepting that I am enough

- DC

Coral

There's a city, draped in net
Fisherman net
And in the half light, in the half light
It looks like every tower
Is covered in webs
Moving and glistening and rocking
It's babies in rhythm
As the spider of time is climbing
Over the ruins

There were hundreds of people living here
Sails at the windows
And the planes came crashing down
And many a pilot drowned
And the speed boats flying above
Put your hand over the side of the boat
What do you feel?

My mother and her little brown jug
It held her milk
And now it holds our memories
I can hear her singing
"Little brown jug don't I love thee"
"Little brown jug don't I love thee"
Ho ho ho, hee hee hee

I hear her laughing
She is standing in the kitchen
As we come in…

I hear her laughing
She is standing in the kitchen
As we come in the back door
See it fall
See it fall
Oh little spider climbing out of a broken jug
And the pieces will lay there a while
In a house draped in net
In a room filled with coral
Sails at the window
Forests of masts
Put your hand over the side of the boat
Put your hand over the side of the boat
What do you feel?

- Kate Bush

Movement, reversed

Movement that appears to block.

Be certain that what you are doing - or not doing - is timely.

There are no ‘missed opportunities’.

You have simply to recognise that not all opportunities are open to you,

That not all possibilities are for you.

The opportunity at hand may be precisely to avoid action.

If you are feeling at a loss,

Unclear about the need to act,

Consider what is timely to your nature and remember,

What is yours will come to you.

- Ralph Blum, from the Book of Runes

Keeping Quite

Now we will count to twelve

And we will all keep still

For once on the face of the earth

Let’s not speak in any language

Let’s stop for a second

And not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment

Without rush, without engines

We would all be together

In a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea

Would not harm whales

And the man gathering salt

Would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars

Wars with gas, wars with fire

Victories with no survivors

Would put on clean clothes

And walk about with their brothers

In the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about.

If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving

And for once could do nothing

Perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness

Of never understanding ourselves

And of threatening ourselves with death.

Now I’ll count up to twelve

And you keep quiet, and I will go.

- Pablo Neruda

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.

Yes there is even death.

But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise,

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet,

The sky is no longer thick with fumes,

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi,

People are singing to each other across the empty squares,

Keeping their windows open so that those who are alone,

May hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland,

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers,

With her number through the neighbourhood,

So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples,

Are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting.

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way.

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality.

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul.

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic.

The birds are singing again.

The sky is clearing, Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul.

And though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, Sing.

- Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM - March 13th 2020

You sing, and your voice peels the husk

You sing, and your voice peels the husk

Of the day’s grain, your song with the sun and sky

The pine trees speak with their green tongue

All the birds of the winter whistle.

The sea fills its cellar with footfalls

with bells, chains, whimpers

The tools and the metals jangle

Wheels of the caravan creak.

But I hear only your voice, your voice

Soars with the zing and precision of an arrow

It drops with the gravity of rain.

Your voice scatters the tightest swords

And returns with its cargo of violets

It accompanies me through the sky.

- Pablo Nerudo

In

And the forest replied a resounding “Yes”

Her unbidden breeze

Carrying her sweetest fragrance of a newly born spring

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

Into my lungs she travelled

Her purest mystery of trust

Into my heart she travelled

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

Such an embrace

Touching every cell

Previously missed

Previously harmed

Previously loved

The simplicity of her

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

I breath her In

Her breath, breathing In, with my breath

In, she says

“Yes, Yes, Yes”

- Elisa Bragg

Juicy Groundedness

Something is a-changing

Underfoot and within

Strangely grounded

Strangely solid

Familiar temptations

Into masochistic dead ends

Seem less alluring

How so?

And do I really need to know?

I feel more

I am more

More of me

It’s the nuances

Those subtle shifts

Beyond the words

The energy is up

Sexual

Sensual

In most unexpected moments

And it’s collaborative

One can be fun

But more is definitely merrier

Eros

Emerging

In all its glory

And it is juicy

Juicy groundedness

- Hiten Joshi

Gratitude

What did you notice?

The dew-snail

The low flying sparrow

The bat, on the wind, in the dark

Big chested geese, in the V of sleekest performance

The soft toad, patient in the hot sand

The sweet-hungry ants

The uproar of mice in the empty house

The tin music of the cricket’s body

The blouse of the goldenrod.

What did you hear?

The thrush greeting the morning

The little bluebirds in their hot box

The salty talk of the wren

Then the deep cup of the hour of silence.

When did you admire?

The oaks, letting down their dark and hairy fruit

The carrot, rising in its elongated waist

The onion, sheet after sheet, curved inward to the pale green wand

At the end of summer the brassy dust, the almost liquid beauty of the flowers

Then the ferns scrawled black by the frost.

What astonished you?

The swallows making their dip and turn over the water.

What would you like to see again?

My dog, her energy and exuberance, her willingness, her language beyond all nimbleness of tongue

Her recklessness, her loyalty, her sweetness, her strong legs, her curled black lip, her snap.

What was most tender?

Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root

The everlasting in its bonnets of wool

The kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body

The tall blank banks of sand

The clam, clamped down.

What was most wonderful?

The sea and its wide shoulders

The sea and its triangles

The sea lying back units long athlete’s spine.

What did you think was happening?

The green beast of the hummingbird

The eye of the pond

The wet face of the lily

The bright, puckered knee of the broken oak

The red tulip of the fox’s mouth

The up-swing, the down-pour, the frayed sleeve of the first snow -

So the gods shake us from our sleep.

- Mary Oliver - RIP

(I am so grateful for you)

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? 
You are a child of God. 

Your playing small 
Does not serve the world. 
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking 
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, 
As children do. 
We were born to make manifest 
The glory of God that is within us. 

It's not just in some of us; 
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, 
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 
As we're liberated from our own fear, 
Our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson

I am a Woman

I am a woman

I have a vagina

I have a womb

My vagina and my womb are a place of power

It is my power

An innate power that belongs to woman

It belongs to me

And I decide how to use it

Pleasure

Children

All creativity

Universes are born out of my sacred vagina

Out of my sacred womb

A place of beauty

Sanctity

Sovereignty

Sensuality

Serenity

How blessed am I to be a woman in all of my glory

I am grateful to you universe for making me a woman

- Elisa Bragg