fall into flight

this is the day you can rise
lift your wings and fall
down below winds will blow
trees will go down
above the storm the cold is warm
the fall is flight

Stay Connected.

When we participate in this life, we participate in the cycles and conflicts to find the resolutions and the harmonies. Opposites and oppositions magnetize and repel, creating the circles and setting them into motion.
Ever widening these circles and reaching higher, we create the spirals, storms which may destroy us or raise us to transcendence. Even as we spin in the apparent chaos of the dance of life, we stay firmly connected to our center and The Center so we may rise and explore and not be flung into confusing blindness and fearful illusions of separation.

mary

keeper of the mystery
purified soul
silence of eternity
one and whole
balancing the energies
on a stairway to the stars
mother mother mary
holding all our dreams in your arms

Thanksgiving

For the wind that blows the trees outside my window,

For the rain that falls in the coldest drops on the dry brown leaves,

For the preciousness of every moment,

for the silence and the shadows,

for the ever-changing scene,

for the ever-living dream inside my heart -

I thank you

for my life.

Snowflakes

He wanted his picture made with his hands lifted and his face thrown back
The falling snow lifted our hearts and made our faces smile
Something unexpected and rare in these parts
somehow informing our spirits that the scenery really can change and the unexpected lovely things can still occur
even now
making us feel like children
one cannot hug a snowflake
so he holds out his arms to the sky from which it falls in drifts and swirls
make the picture to record this joy
with hands lifted and face thrown back

No shoes on my feet . . .

I think it's kinda interesting in the coincidental/synchronistic sort of way that I posted a poem that involved having no shoes on my feet and Bush was getting 2 shoes thrown at him in Iraq. (see Dec. 13 post)

No Hat Up On My Head

for a long time I
travelled down a dusty road
with no shoes on my feet
and no hat upon my head
and i wondered why
i had to carry such a load
through the cold and the heat
and no hat upon my head
so i gazed at the sky
where the sunset glowed
with no shoes on my feet
and this is what i said
i sure hate to die
travelling down a dusty road
but i've only seen defeat
and my heart is full of dread
for a long time i
knew i'd reap what i sowed
but never thought i would be beat
in the land of the dead

and i wondered why
so i gazed at the sky
i sure hate to die
in the land of the dead
with my heart full of dread
and no hat upon my head

21 august 1987

found this this morning going through some old stuff and was amused

there's a tune as well, very somber, but not slow really

Pit of Bones

Every time I think that I am dead and gone
I see myself rising from a pit of bones.
So unexpected, this ghost of another day--
I had forgotten that it feels this way.

So many flavors,
and textures beneath the words,
expressions and gestures
shaping the world--
See them with joy,
see them with laughter,
Feel their weariness as they follow after all the disguises of Emptiness.

A bird cries across the ocean of night
Dipping into a sailor's fevered dream
then on to drink from a child's hidden tears
Until echoes of ancient longings pierce through all the worlds,
Stirring up corpses of long abandoned dreams
To send them scurrying after the receding shadows of forgetfulness.

Feel the sting of wounds fresh cut by the sword of Turning Away.
I did not know it would feel this way
As agony and ecstasy join hands
And merge into the smile that journeys across the arc of my soul
as she rises from this pit of bones.

Mother Goddess at the Traffic Light

one in her belly
one in her arms
one held tightly by the hand
four souls cross the busy street as one
no time for feeling lonely
no time for feeling anything but the strength she must always find
for holding head high, back straight, and little hands tight
holding onto nickels and dimes
holding onto sanity and personal pride for one more day

sherry fraley, 2000

Starting Line

crazy thoughts fill your head
you think it's too late for you now
you've tried and tried again
only to fall short every time
one more time
you step up to the starting line
one more try
you want to have it all

you'll never settle for something less
than everything you see in glimpses
like a magnet drawing you
even pulling you up from underneath endless layers
dark and heavy upon you

crazy winds are filling your heart
your're thinking it's too much for you
can you find the strength to stand?
will you fall again
fall short one more time?
you can never settle
for something less than everything
one more time.
you step up to the starting line...

Sherry Fraley

Well, it's that time again. Time to make another go of getting my life together, so to speak.

New Human

You are so open and so free, so ready for the love that comes your way. Wherever it may come from, you recognize it, and you embrace it without trapping it. Each moment is leaned into with wondering eyes and eager mind and open heart. You are the new human, lower lows and higher highs contained in one invincible sanity.

Thoughts inspired by Captain Jack Harkness and The Doctor

The Hermit and the Fool

Oh the Hermit and the Fool
Walk through the moonlit night
And the hermit doesn’t see the fool is there
He finds a lovely spot
A mossy little clearing
Sets his lantern down upon the dewy ground
And walks the circle on the edge of the light

Head bowed just a little
Eyes half closed
A very gentle bounce in the knees
And a very slight tap with his staff on the earth
As he trances to the edges of the universe

And all the while the fool skips and sways
In circles around the hermit
Each small tap of the hermit’s staff
Stokes the fire of the fool’s desire
And each little nod of the hermit’s head
Dips into the deepest pool--
The heart of the fool

The moth in his brain dances with the flickers of the light
The firefly in his eye searches out the treasures of the night
In the forest of the hermit

Then in his trancing dream
The Hermit sees the Fool
And gathers him to his heart
Like an old forgotten friend who never leaves
Like a new remembered joy that always stays
On the edges of the circle
And in every movement of their dance

Sherry Fraley, 2007

Wisdom Waters

Wisdom enduring over lifetimes
Spring forth freely now
In laughter
In tears
And the powerful silence
The sparkle of light
The opaque night
Are joined in your soul
Pour yourself forth freely
Into the lonely crevices of our tortured landscapes
Into our dried up seabeds you flow
Reminding us of lush Eden
Still alive just beneath the barren crust
Oh flow now from yourself
And help us remember
As we open our thirsty souls to you
Free us from the shores of our longing
And we will let the cool currents of Love carry us
Into the depths we were once afraid to explore