Take your time. Enjoy.
1. Some Wine
2. Paper Flag
3. The Smile
4. Brother's Keeper
Enter the tent and be welcome, pilgrim.
Sit at the table and take your fill.
Tell me the stories of your journey,
and I will tell you mine.
As I make room at my table,
so do I make room in my worldview.
for whatever truths you care to offer.
How could anyone judge, debate, or deny
the authentic witness of mind and heart.
I receive such gifts in humble silence.
So have a seat, my honored guest.
Let us share a laugh and a tear.
By sharing pieces of the puzzle,
we may yet glimpse a greater truth
than either could conceive alone.
Welcome.
———————
Paper flag, were you sewn by cramped fingers
In the dim, chores-done firelight of a homestead,
Each stitch a witness to the love of freedom?
No. You were mass-produced
By almost-slave labor in almost-enemy countries,
In factories spewing poisons we no longer tolerate.
Paper flag, have you ever been carried into battle,
Rallying the troops around your cause,
With brave souls defending you unto death?
No. You are stuck on the bumper of a pickup
Aggressively driven by one who disregards both law and civility
While displaying the words, "United We Stand!"
Paper flag, when your time is up
Will we gather you an honor guard
And dispose of you with respectful ceremony?
No. Bleached and cracked, edges curling,
You will cling to that bumper in a junkyard
For generations.
Paper flag, are you the flag we still honor in song,
The one yet waving over the land of the free
And the home of the brave?
Are you that flag?
———————
Some say the universe is fundamentally good,
the glorious handiwork of an unseen mystery.
Some say the material world is inherently corrupt,
and the nature of flesh is sin.
Some say the universe holds yin and yang in perfect balance,
good and bad, in equal measure, orbiting forever.
Some say it is all just rocks,
meaningless and indifferent.
All I know is, when I smile at the universe,
the universe smiles back.
———————
You ask me if I am my brother's keeper?
The Daoist in me says no, it is enough to be responsible for oneself, but we should live our lives in a modest, balanced, and harmonious way that benefits all naturally.
The Buddhist in me says it is important to have compassion for all who are suffering, but not to become ensnared in the suffering.
The Christian in me says kindness, love, and forgiveness are who we are, not something we mete out to a deserving few when the collection plate comes round.
The Sufi poet in me says we are all spangles reflecting the light of a single sun — how is it that we do not dance in the joy of each other's company? How could anyone turn one's back?
———————
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