The poetry of Being is scattered throughout time and the cultures of the world. It is written by Sufis, American Transcendentalists, Asian Zen and Taoist masters, a myriad modern poets, as well as many others. The profound experiences they convey can be felt in Celtic legends and Native American prayers. Their authors not only document the wonderment of life but the deeper presence that is evoked by their experiences. They relate an expansive sense of Being awakened through nature, creating a synergy between the inner and the outer that dissolves separation between self and that greater presence.
Though centuries and cultural differences may separate us, their words have not dimmed, they still light the way.
Sitting Alone on Jingting Mountain By Li Po - (701–762)
The birds have vanished down the sky,
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.
From Don’t Go Back to Sleep, by Rumi
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch…
From The Song of Amergin - ancient Irish legend
I am a Stag of seven tines,
I am a flood across a plain,
I am a wind on a deep lake,
I am a tear the Sun lets fall,
I am a Hawk above the cliff…
From Meditations by Sarah Margaret Fuller
Today, for the first time, I felt the Deity,
And uttered prayer on hearing thunder. This
Must be thy will, — for finer, higher spirits
Have gone through this same process, — yet I think
There was religion in that strong delight,
Those sounds, those thoughts of power imparted. True,
I did not say, ‘He is the Lord thy God,’
But I had feeling of his essence.
The Beauty Way Prayer from the Diné, a First Nations People
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
From At the River Clarion, by Mary Oliver
I don’t know who God is exactly.
But I’ll tell you this.
I was sitting in the river named Clarion, on a water splashed stone
and all afternoon I listened to the voices of the river talking.
Whenever the water struck a stone it had something to say,
and the water itself, and even the mosses trailing under the water.
And slowly, very slowly, it became clear to me what they were saying.
Said the river I am part of holiness.
And I too, said the stone. And I too, whispered the moss beneath the water…
Poetry is one of the arts by which we can both experience the presence of Being and guide ourselves deeper into its fullness. I imagine Mary Oliver amplifying the voice of that river as she sat in its company and wrote, her pencil conjuring forth the many voices so audible to her.
I’ve been migrating back into the practice of opening to Being (a word for God/Goddess/Spirit I use as it conveys both a presence in the physical world as well as timeless transcendence), as my focus on grief and family pulls less on my creative process. Developing an awareness of Being through the arts is not only nourishing for those of us invested in it, but essential if our culture is to grow any well rooted wisdom about living with live and gratitude on this beloved planet of ours.
I hope the following poems, arising out of my daily life, encourage you in opening to and receiving the essential presence of Being available to us all.
*For those who want to sit back and listen, I’ve arranged the spoken poems as a video playlist on youtube. Click here to listen.
Ocean Awakening
Every morning begins with a dancing journey, I never know who or what will join me in my circle. Lately it has been Swan, Owl, Elk, and finally Ocean. I return again and again to the body of the Ocean as it moves through me…
The World's Sudden Prayers
I know you saw it when you came this way - the pale yellow autumn leaves stuck to the ground, about the same size and shape as rose petals, not scattered aimlessly but not easily deciphered.
