In the beginning

I found her and watched                                                           Attractive

From a distance                                   admired                        Captivating

                                                                                                  Enamoured

                                                                                               

She called                                                                                Fellowship

And we became                                    friends                         Comrades

                                                                                                 Respect

I listened and learned                                                               Distress

Something of her life                           concern                        Anxiety

                                                                                                 Anxious

Because of what I learned                                                        Heartbreak

I felt for her                                          pain                              Sorrow

                                                                                                  Discomfort

As I listened I became                                                               Enchanted

More interested                                    infatuation                    Enthralled

                                                                                                  Entranced

New knowledge                                                                        Disturbed

New thoughts                                       nervousness                 Unsettled

                                                                                                 Impatient

New thoughts                                                                           Scared

New desires                                         fearful                          Faint-hearted

                                                                                                Apprehensive

When I asked                                                                           Astounding

She said yes                                        shock                           Overwhelming

                                                                                                Astonishment

I asked again                                                                            Awe

She said yes                                        amazement                  Daze

                                                                                                Surprise

What if                                                                                     Dismay

?                                                          fear                              Forboding                   

                                                                                                Trepidation

She still is                                                                                Harmony

Here                                                     affinity                          Delight

                                                                                                Charm

                                                                                                 Involved

Reality                                                  concern                       Interest

                                                                                                Caring

We still are                                                                              Amazed

Here                                                     surprise                       Wonder

                                                                                                Unbelievable

                                                                                                Enhancing

I need                                                   deeper                        Benevolent

                                                                                                Compassion

We are                                                                                    Confidante

Still                                                      friendship                    Complimentary

                                                                                                Beloved

We                                                                                           Passion

Are                                                       rejoice                         Tender

                                                                                                Amour

Life Stream

Life Stream

Its called progress, the pace and complexity of life.

The inter-personality of it also seems to increase unrelentingly.

It would seem that you must either get into the moving life stream and cope,

or you drop out of real living.

In retreating, you can live out your life,

if you can call it living, trying to confront feelings

of loneliness, fragmentation, and isolation.

In doing so, you might also accept the prevailing pessimism

and possibly allow that there isn't the remotest possibility

that you're ever doing anything significant.

The world is, after all, a place of chaotic mismanagement,

and who are you to change it.

It's far better to hide.

If you aren't overpaid for it, then it isn't worth doing.

Responsibility is a trap you will avoid.

Aren’t you smart?

You have learned to say "I want".

Better still you have learned to say "No".

And in doing so, you may avoid ever achieving a balance

between the complexity of it all and your conscience,

if you still have one.

Yet in refusing to retreat,

You are accepting that to serve

might be a privilege.

You might accept further and find

that voluntary work is

one of the best ways

for an someone to find a balance.

Finally you can accept that the value of service

is both social and personal.

The 'why' of serving may escape you initially,

you may enter into an action

with a personal, or even ulterior motive.

Inadvertently,

you may start off putting on a show

and end up being of real service.

There is, after all, no stereotype to altruism.

Everyone can contribute ideas, opinions, interests and abilities.

And it is this action

that finally puts you into the moving life stream.

You find that in serving you not only supply a need,

you are also promoting and protecting

that which you now value.

Longfellow had it before you;

"Give what you have to someone, it may be better than you dare to think"

Taking part in life seems better after all, than just living.

You are actually doing something in earnest, and it feels good.

Your desirable impulses and qualities are no longer repressed by not doing.

You have replaced that sense of pessimism, of uselessness.

Instead, you blaze a small trail, stimulate a fellow human being,

make a contribution toward a better balance.

You learn that all that talk achieves nothing as compared to one small action.

You have stemmed the feeling of futility,

by action.

Now you have the pace,

you belong.

You have found the foundation of humanity.

You have achieved the balance

You, are in the moving life stream.

Back Home

Shall I tell you what sociology teaches us about the human race? I’ll give it to you in a nutshell. Show me a man or a woman alone and I’ll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they will invent that charming thing called "society". Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and there will be an outcast. Give me six and prejudice will be re-invented. Give me seven and in seven years they will re-invent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of god, but human society was made in the image of his opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.

Time Walks

    Time walks beside me in a dark corridor and flings open shutters as I advance. But the light shown is often too bright and only deepens the darkness that surrounds me and all that is in front is invisible.
     I can see very little at a time, and understand even less. I am ever peering ahead, curiously, Trying to see the future through the glare of the present. I can sometimes see the leading lines of what is before me, and sometimes by the faintly reflected lines of light reflected like from dull mirrors that are behind. The only thing that I can really do is stumble on as I may, until the trapdoor opens underneath me and I am gone.

Just a Little Bit

If I laugh just a little bit

Maybe I can forget the chance

That I didn't have to know you

And live in peace

If I laugh just a little bit

Maybe I can forget the plans

that I didn't use to get you at home

with me-alone

If I laugh just a little bit

Maybe I can recall the way

That I used to be, before you.

And sleep at night- and dream

If I laugh, if I laugh

Just a little bit...

Roots

Let your strength be your roots

And gentleness your stem

And kindness your leaves

For aggression is as out of order

As the sun controlling the earth

And roots showing above the surface

Are ugly and out of place

if you have the goods

you do not have to proclaim them

use them discreetly

As a gift, not to be taken lightly

Let your kindness grow

And your gentleness feed you

And your roots will support

Your every dream.

Life Is

Life is a moment only

Only a dissolving of ourselves

In other selves as a hearty gift

Life is but a wedding gift

Bursting from the light

Like a song, a dream, a bird,

Winging in the blue.

The Future

The future and the past are as a panorama on two rollers; that which is on the roller of the future unwraps itself onto the roller of the past. It cannot be speeded up or slowed down. One must see all that is given whether it is good or bad. And what is once seen may never be seen again. It is ever unwinding and being wound. We catch it in transition, for a moment, and call that present. The flustered senses gather what they can. And guess at what is coming by the significance of that which we have already seen.