All there ever is
June 13, 2019
There is no past,
and there never was.
There is no future,
and there never will be.
All there ever is
is now,
and that is all
I’ll ever need.
Beyond the world of discovery that music has been for me, there was always the bigger world, the universe of questions about what we’re a part of, how it works, and how to best fit into the larger whole.
My love of words, a fascination with scientific, philosophical, and spiritual inquiry, and a quiet determination to learn how to be a better human (and a happier man) have led me on a path of shaping my experience, breath by breath, into poems.
Here are some of them.
June 13, 2019
There is no past,
and there never was.
There is no future,
and there never will be.
All there ever is
is now,
and that is all
I’ll ever need.
May 28, 2019
More and more,
my mind is lately filled
with thoughts about awakening
to the present moment.
And then,
when I notice I am thinking,
I stop, seeing the irony
of my mind’s incessant yearning,
and let myself awaken
to the present moment.
May 22, 2019
There is no such thing
as a black person,
or a white person,
or a red or yellow person.
There is no human skin
which is truly black,
white, red, or yellow.
Why, then,
do we treat these labels
as if they were real,
delineating some real difference?
The rainbow of our skins
is simply shades
of beige and brown,
with hints of red and yellow.
There is no such thing
as a black person,
or a white person,
or a red or yellow person.
There are only people.
May 21, 2019
When I have lost my center,
floundering for meaning,
I need only watch the moon,
the clouds rolling past it,
a planet twinkling beside it,
and I am back where I belong,
in the midst of creation.
May 15, 2019
Sometimes I annoy myself,
and then I see myself
annoying myself,
and then I am the witness
to these bickering “selves”.
As I observe them, they dissolve
into so much smoke and noise,
drifting like weather
through an infinite sky.
May 13, 2019
More and more,
I am realizing
that there is no destination,
beyond the full experience
of where I already am.
The less I look outside myself
or to the future,
the more I discover
the completeness
that is already in me.
The more the distractions
of seeking and grasping
fall away,
the more I uncover the perfection
that is already always there!
May 11, 2019
If you want to reach me,
don’t give me anger, fear, or disgust -
I have enough of those already.
When I see the darkness
in my own mind,
I am drawn to look beyond it
to whatever gives out light.
Shine some of that my way,
and I will give you my attention!
May 6, 2019
Ever entranced
by the pull of words,
I have been lulled to sleep
by my life’s routines,
clothing everything
in the skin of reason,
shielding me
from the rawness of the world
and the fearful intimacy
of its embrace.
And when I awaken
from my dream of the familiar,
I stand naked
like a newborn,
a tourist in my own world,
delighting in its newness,
its immediacy,
stripped of history,
pulsing with life.
April 29, 2019
I have noticed that the world
has very little interest
in how I think things should be.
Perhaps it would be better, then,
if I myself took more of an interest
in how things actually are.
April 14, 2019
If you feel wronged by me,
here is my advice to you:
refrain from making me a villian,
or making yourself a victim.
The hurt you feel now
is but a vestige
of something old and festering,
triggered by your present perception,
but grounded in past pain.
By seeing me
as the cause of your torment,
you only give your power away,
depriving yourself of the possibility
of moving on.
I have never wished you ill,
nor will I ever,
and I forgive you
for the suffering you have caused
while blinded by your own pain.
My wish for you is simple:
that you may learn from this,
as I have,
and that this may be the beginning
of your healing.