Song #1 and Song #2

Song #1

Each of us is a hollow bone
That can fill with the sublime truth
And carried on that wind
Our rascal selves
Dissolve

Our will o’ wisp trails
Shimmer
Insubstantial motes in a rolling wave
And when enticed into form
Again we know
The miracle of simple acts

Each step has rhythm
If we can find it
The call and response
Of life

Each of us
No more important
And no less vital
Than the notes in a symphony

It is the counterpoint
Between us
That makes the harmony

To find the common thread
In the frenacy
Of the marketplace
Is the gift
Of a master

One needs
A different ear

The melody of birds
In flight
The cacophony of monsoon rains
No less than crickets
Murmuring in the night

Or the rhythm of
Grass and leaves
Breathing in
The sweet sunlight

It is a kindness (music)
Some may feel
As touch

The common ground
Beneath all things
The essence of joy
From which we spring

We return again
Because the ending always
Makes us want
For more.

Song #2

And how can we not dance
When every part of us
Vibrates?

And how could the bird fly
Without the wind?

Oh, let me be the flute
Through which your wind blows

And let me be the drum
On which your hands
Celebrate.

***

Inspired by a concert – Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia 10/7/12 at Skinner Hall, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.

In dreams

In dreams we can be vulnerable or we can be the master.

Old friends come back into our lives and enemies admire us.

I always seem to traveling on a train or arriving from a plane

or looking for the library in a huge university building

or moving through one house and arriving on some unfamiliar street.

But in the morning it's all so interesting

even the room with the window looking out to a white sky.

Golden Child

My son was born to lead
And to abide
As all good healers do
The world around.

With what he has inside
His art, his mind -
Imagination and design
Are made to fit.

Compassion is the start.
Where beings cry
His heart beats
To the sound.

This endless kindness
Needs a happy mind
Consumed with ideas
And a lightning wit.

Like birds that flock
In droves across the sky
His spirit seeks
The highest ground.

When this gentle giant smiles
The molecules travel
Homeward bound
And lamps are lit.