Life is Poetry, Poetry is Life

God speaks to each of us a he makes us,
then walks us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.
*Selection from Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God - I, 59



ZERO CIRCLE by Rumi (Version by Coleman Barks)
Be helpless, dumbfounded,
Unable to say yes or no.
Then a strecher will come from grace
to gather us up.

We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty.
If we say we can, we're lying.
If we say No, we don't see it,
That No will behead us
And shut tight our window onto spirit.

So let us rather not be sure of anything,
Besides ourselves, and only that, so
Miraculous beings come running to help.
Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute,
We shall be saying finally,
with tremendous eloquence, Lead us.
When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,
We shall be a mighty kindness.
*From Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden


Who seeks for Heaven alone
to save his soul
may keep the path,
but will not reach the goal.
While they who walk in Love
may wander far
yet God will bring them
where the blessed are.
*Henry Van Dyke


Ithaca
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofy, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become with so much experience,
you must have already understood what these Ithacas mean.
*Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)


Entree-vouz
Welcome to my mind.

Please come in, but
do watch your step.
The absurdities
of life
keep this place
in such
a mess.

Be careful
of the
clutter
and try
to avoid any
cynical thoughts
and conspiracy theories
you might see
lying around.

I'll understand
completely
if you don't
stay too long.

Even I
get overwhelmed
at times
by the
riot going on
in here;

a
veritable conundrum
of
paradox and irony
cyclical repetitions
of valid questions
with no real answers.

Don't let that scare you, though.

Come back and visit
any time.

I'm pretty sure
I'll be here.
*Bonnie Davis (Notes from Behind the Pink Wall, 2004)