"if you want to live life free
take your time, go slowly
step by step,stone by stone
heartfelt things are holy..."

st. francis

fill my heart with love
that i may draw a steady mark
walk a sacred way

soul likes to wreak havoc
turn things around
stand them upside down
but to each portion of soul
add its complimentary measure of light
thus a slow growth of original self
takes root

we are too much with war
in this "culture" of ours
war on poverty war on drugs
the taliban and iraq
not to mention syria
and n. korea too

what kind of mind-set defines itself
as "at war"
who or whatever must have been absent
when "the sermon on the mount" was preached

i have wrent pain and destruction
upon my body
in an attempt to bring forth what is within
yea, i have been too coarse in my methods
i am in need of grace and gentleness
in my practice
but i will "stay the course"

by blood sacrifice
do we re-create The Garden
only by grace and humility
is the work completed

by storm my subconscious rose
like a boiling cauldron
a raging volcano
inflicting chaos and destruction on all around
by flame and fire
sparing naught
nay, even my desire...

by cruelties of fate
that which hardens my body
lay soft over my soul

oh! thoz enduring beautiful
Amish Angels of Nickel Mines
that horror and mis-deed
beget love and forgiveness
when will the world embrace
The Way...
the Amish version of "shock and awe"

in the juxtaposition
of great sorrow and great happiness
one can live only in the sanctity of the moment...
taking refuge in the great unborn
carrying out one's sentence
like "a dead man walking"