At the Beach

The children squeal in untaught naked excitement,
As the waves crash to a white spray,
And a sharp-eyed pelican plummets into the water
Emerging with a beak full of unwary herring
And farther on the heaving sea,
A lone dolphin reveals itself
In breathtaking black loops,
And birds flap and float in conference
About greasy slime, pesticides and radioactive fish,
While I lay stretched on the peppered sand
Repeatedly running the grains between my fingers,
As if through some universal hourglass,
Admiring the work of the restless sea,
And wondering about the deafening silence.

I must

Climb the hill, I must,
And extend,
A hand to the precarious.
Love them I must,
And smile,
Once at least.
Doesn't a smile light another smile?
Laugh and play in the sun, I must
And sing aloud,
Creating silly memories.
And know someone's pain,I must,
Every day.
Thank them all, I must,
Right now.
For, while I ponder and wait,
It could turn
Windless, silent and dark.

Patience

The earth heaves to yield
The stunning rise of snow-capped wonders,
And pebbles round to perfection
In the womb of slumbering glaciers.
From the crushing might of rocks
Stones with gleam emerge,
While smoldering ejections
Shape the green isle.
The winds pattern the golden dunes,
And the gorges stand apart to lead
The sands to the sea
Where an oyster hides and weeps,
To reveal its misery in a rare pearl.
And those who wait
Find festering wounds healed,
And grow the halo of the wise
All in good time.
Does the awesome ever happen in a hurry?

Rise or Not?

Untold agony pours forth
In a rain of tears.
Words of anger
And the foment of hatred,
Discharge in blinding flashes,
Again and again.
Yet, above the dark clouds
The wails fade into a blue silence,
And the grotesque turns invisible
By the glare of the sun.
Must I rise or not?

Are You That?

The stillness in silence, and
The swiftness of thought,
The infinity in the atom,
The blackness of the dark,
The dazzle of a million suns,
The lion and the fawn,
The formless in all forms,
Moving, yet still.
Are you That?

Gifts

You stood without interrupting
And gave me the gift of listening.
Just a casual compliment
Was a boosting gift of appreciation.
By forwarding that silly joke
You enlivened me with the gift of laughter.
With that kind and helping hand
You lifted me with the gift of love.
Your scribbled " thank you " note
Enclosed the gift of your thoughtfulness.
By letting me shut the door
You slipped me the gift of solitude.
And, what did these gifts cost you?
Please keep giving!

Lessons of Life

I was asked to speak at my high school a few months ago, 35 years after I had left it. This is what I shared with them as the lessons of my life.

1. Wherever you are, you must cause positive change. Success is measured by positive change. That which does not change, or cause change, is dead.
2. Let no one tell you that something is “too complex” to deal with. The adjectives simple and complex are purely circumstantial. “Unfamiliarity” is not to be confused with “difficulty” .
3. Believe that you can do it. If you do not believe in yourself why should others believe in you.
4. You have to be there to do it. Reflect on the topic intensely and imagine doing it.
5. Your passion must be criticized as obsessive. Till then you have not begun.
6. Reduce everything to elementary steps, and act on it one step at a time. Remember, it all happens in good time.
7. Take nothing for granted. Never stop questioning. When you stop, it is the end of learning.
8. Just go after the “grand” stuff. Choose no less.
9. Learn it well. When others can understand you, you have learned it well.
10.Avoid the tempting thrill of pretentiousness. If you need help do not be too proud or afraid to ask.
11. Nothing is ever done alone. It is a fallacy that credits have to add up to 100%.
12. Be like water, taking the shape of the container it is poured into; fluid and flexible to change, and open for surprise. Remember every pencil comes equipped with an eraser; make edits to you life as you go along.
13. Learn to accept the limitations and faults of others as you would readily demand that others pardon your shortcomings. This planet belongs to everyone.
14. C+P=D; The Choices we make + The Promises we keep = Our Destiny