A Brightness Ahead

There's a brightness ahead, and we don't see exactly what it is;

But we know there's a Transformation.
Structures behind us are falling,
Falling as we run.

We sleep under the moon
Stars are calling to us

Trudging Thoughts

Her lids and limbs were heavy as she trudged the slope on tired feet.

If only she could reach the Tree.

In It's shade, she would lie down at last, and cool blossoms would rest lightly on her closed eylids.

And sleep, sleep would come and take her to that other place.

From THOUGHTS DURING CHURCH SERVICE, written on the program note sheet, 9/14/1987.

So Real

I know I could find a way out of here

If I could turn,

If I could move

In the direction of the sky.

how you fear me

how you can never hear me

how you try

to turn away from the sky

I was

Walking down the

City streets. I

did not know what

I would meet,

But I

Was so

Real.

I was so real.

I walk with the stars.

I walk with the sun.

I feel

So

Real.

How do I sustain this

Real?

oh, turn around.

turn around.

I know I could find a way out of here

If I could turn,

If I could move

In the direction of the sky.

walk with the stars.

walk with the sun.

The Work You Do

If you don't believe

In your most golden thoughts

Of what life should really be,

Then who will make it be?

No one but you.

No one but you

Can do the work that you can do.

Living out your days,

Dripping Time from a bottle,

Drops more precious than gold,

Oiling the wheels

Of the machine that enslaves you.

Oh Children of the Earth,

Children of the Earth,

Children of the Earth,

Remember.

Remember.

If you do not embody

Your most precious hope,

Your most splendid vision of what life can be,

Then who?

Unfold

unfold yourself
slowly and completely
leisurely and attentively
unfold yourself

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

Shopping

Shopping

Shiny streets in a wet metro night
Another shopping town
Movies houses and malls
Construction banners and coffee shops
Restaurants by the score
All you can eat
And much much more
Blah blah blah

Even as we scurry about the suburban surface
Our souls have frozen into waiting
For a time when this will all make sense
When corners will be neat and secure
And bundles will be laid out brightly and sweetly
Beneath an Evergreen

One true thought
One feeling uncensored
Would free us

All we’ve been taught of reigning in
We’ve learned too well
We’re waiting for enlightenment, ascension, Armageddon
The return of someone we never really knew
Waiting for science to save us
Waiting for religion to accept us
Waiting for politicians to wise up
Waiting for a piece of paper to validate us
Waiting for that first big break to empower us
Waiting to be excellent
Someday

In dreams we wander old haunts not knowing we are dead
Gazing longingly into bright and brassy blurs
Searching for a flicker from one pure beam of light which holds all we seek
Not knowing it has moved on with the expansion of Eternity
Where permissions are neither sought nor granted, bought, nor sold
Where nothing waits or remains unchanged

Where one true thought
One feeling uncensored
Would wake us, free us, set us in motion
To find home at last on the Path that never ends

LESSONS OF FREEDOM

Let the people in a free land learn the lessons of freedom.
Let the people in this country be truly free.

We must pray for the impossible.

Let the leaders of the people lead the people down a new road.
Let the eyes of the leaders truly see.

We must pray for the impossible.

Let them see that the old games are insane.
They have no place in this New World.
Clear the slate and start again;
Let us all see the vision of this New World.

We can't build the New World on the old foundations,
Power structures that raised and felled all the nations.
No new lands to conquer, no where to hide
Time to untie the ancient knots inside

Let the people in a free world live the life of freedom.
Let the people in this world be truly free.

We must believe in the impossible.

On Outliving Monsters

Monsters that haunted me
I ceased to fight
Fierce holds loosened
Malicious lights in raging eyes dimmed
Gutteral rumblings and restless growls
Were assuaged by great gulps of silence.

Accusers who sat in judgement
I ceased to debate
Rinsed the grime of their documents from my hands
and walked out into the Loveliness
breathing earth and drinking sky.
Those old courtrooms held no jurisdiction
Over the fate of my soul.

I did not conquer all my fears. I out-lasted them.
My adversaries shriveled and starved
In the absence of my round stares.

There were books I did not need to finish, after all
I could simply lay them aside and find better stories.
If I open the old tomes now,
Their power to enthrall and magnetize has dissolved.
Their scowls and whimpers fall through my consciousness like sand through a sifter
Until shining nuggets alone remain.

sherry fraley, 2007

Masks

If all the world’s a stage,
Let us not limit the parts we play.
Our masks will be our liberation.

You look at me and think you know me.
I see your face, so familiar, and ask no questions.
These faces hide us behind their settled arrangements
While drawers of masks lie in swirling silences
Awaiting turns to unlock our hidden treasures.
In our secret chambers before our moonlit mirrors
We try them on.

Tremble at their gruesome grimaces.
Swoon from their mad hilarities.
Melt in their enlightened loveliness.

Wander beneath their solemn gazes into the infinities.
Inquire into their ancient origins . . .

If we bring them out into the sunlight
Will the Sun hide his face?
Or will he laugh and beam and peer back on us with longing
As he swells and sinks into the last blaze of our day,
Wishing he could slow the spin of the Earth
Now that he has seen those faces the Moon scarcely knows
And of whom only the Stars can sing
As they twinkle from our eyes
And pierce easily through zombie fogs.

And what, then, will we see in each other

If we do not shield our eyes?
Always something new in the features we recognize
For we have as many faces
as the Sky.

sherry fraley, 2007

Back with a Poem

I get impatient with those bloggers who start out a new blog entry (sometimes almost every new entry) with something like, "Well it's been a long time since my last entry. Sorry, I've been having computer problems and midterms and a midlife crisis and final exams and dramas in my personal life, etc...." It's so inane, isn't it? Not to mention a waste of the reader's time. You just want to say, "Oh, get on with it already." So anyway, sorry it's been so long since my last entry, my life has been so crazy blah blah blah.

Here's a poem with which I am re-entering the blogoshere. It was inspired by a tarot card in the Voyager deck (the creation of James Wanless). It was also inspired by a voice in me that I only wish would get stronger and more powerful in it's influence my daily life. I hope it connects with the ear in you that can hear it.

UNIVERSES

by Sherry Fraley, 2007

So many possibilities and variations on themes
living things
growing things
new and tender seedlings
Once encased, now blossoming tendrils curious and hungry in all directions

Is it all in the Mind
Or is the Mind in It All

So many possibilities
Go with one that moves you
To charge the energy moving around you
And the whole lovely chaos of your realm
Will turn and move with you
Creating universes in your swirling wake

Beloved Satellite

Our night without you so dark
Our waters unmoved by tidal breaths
Waxing and waning womb gone from our sky
If you were set free

Thrall of Earth
Enthralling, in turn, the Earth and her children
She can hide no surface from your face
While you show only your face to Her

You are Mystery embodied
Pulling desire from our hearts in silvery threads
Growing heavy with promise
And shrinking to a sliver of longing

Cradled and gazing on far-away suns
Where you journeyed in your ancient freedom
You take our hearts with you into your dream
Under the refuge of the encroaching Shadow

Sherry Fraley
2006

The Secret

by Sherry Fraley

I know a secret, and it could change everything.

I was looking out the window and suddenly remembered that I knew this secret. But it has no words.
It’s something like eternal life, or just being born but being conscious of everything.
It’s like loving your enemy.
It’s like shaking hands with Death across a great ocean.

But it’s not these things exactly. It’s the hidden thing that makes all these things possible.

It’s like the twinkle in the eye that says everything without words, or the smell of flowers in the sun, or the sparkle on the sea.
There’s a smile that sees everything and feels everything and loves everything because the one who smiles knows this secret. Do you know it?
If enough of us know it, it will change everything.

UPWARD CLIMB -- Getting Out of Bed

"Everybody out there,
This is what we're learning:
We all need to listen,
Listen to our True Voice."

The hardest part of the day can be getting out of bed, especially if you have already beaten yourself up.

This morning when I woke, guess who else was already awake. Yep. My Inner Critic (IC). Pointing out all the things I need to do, the things I should have already done, and the people in my life who probably think I am less than swell for not doing this or that, and so on. Also, I think that this morning IC was depressed, so I had a Depressed Inner Critic (DIC) to deal with. And then, guess who woke up. Yep. My Angst-Ridden Grump (ARG). Actually ARG tends to fluctuate between Angry & Rebellious and Angst-Ridden. So this morning DIC and ARG were having it out before I could open my eyes, and I was already exhausted before doing a single thing.

As you can see, I've let this situation get out of hand. These two are like the squabbling kids in the back seat of my car, and now they've crawled into the front seat and are trying to grab the steering wheel, but neither one of them can reach the pedels, and neither DIC nor ARG have a license!

Well, finally I awoke to my dilemma, and realized I had to find my True Voice. It wasn't easy, because DIC never seems to want to be quiet very long. Finally I heard it.

Imagine yourself excellent.

And it was the life-line that pulled me out of the right side of the bed. DIC was still mumbling as I went into the bathroom because, well, the bathroom is definitely not up to DIC's standards. But I had some energy and focus now, so I was on my way.

So how do you know which of those voices you wake up with is your True Voice?

"It does not bring you down;
It brings you back around,
Telling you
What is too good to
Not be true."

When I heard "Imagine yourself excellent", that focused me on my Highest Self and my goal for this life. It set me back on the path of my Upward Climb and gave me energy to keep going instead of lying in a miserable, muddy ditch with DIC and ARG. My critic and my grump are not my enemies, just my immature parts that still need structure and guidance. And, of course these two loveys are not the only inner voice distractions to manage. For example, there's DD, the Detail Demon who is best friends with IC . . ., but let's not go there right now.

"There is no condemnation,
Only liberation . . .
Listen, listen, listen,
Listen to your True Voice."

-Excerpts in green from LISTEN TO YOUR TRUE VOICE by Sherry Fraley.

Another Day in the World

Just another day in the world
Looking out my blind-slitted office window on the muggy July greenness
Here in the Atlanta suburbs
Where I never thought I'd be this long

Life does take some twists, doesn't it? Like a winding moutain path, it dips and climbs, too.

I miss winding moutain paths. It's time to go back to the Smokies. I haven't been to the Smokies since 30 pounds ago. Hmm. I should retrace those pounds. I just know the years would melt if I did.

And so ---
This is my first post in my first blog. What is my blog about? Yeah, I'm still getting that together. But I promise it will be interesting. If you are interested in things that interest me, that is. Hmm... So are blogs the ultimate me-centered, narcissistic idea yet? Nah. (I answer myself.) That's the most critical and negative take on it, I guess. We're just all reaching out, aren't we? Trying to connect in this crazy compartmentalized world. Yes, I think that's closer to the truth. We want to be seen, and we want to be heard, because . . . we feel invisible? Hmm. Maybe. Hey, feel free to put in your thoughts.

In the meantime, I'll be thinking about what this lovely blog is for and about and made up of and such. So, stay calm and laid back, cuz it's just another day in the world.