A TRAPPED BIRD FINDS A SAFE HAND

It felt like Truth
Opening up inside my hand –

It was like any other bird
Resting in God’s vast forest –
Who protects all bird life.

I carried it to the window –
The bird trusting me – like some alternative God –
Who’s able to carry living beings past death into life
Beyond imagination.

We know nothing about what lies beyond space and time –
So we arrive there motionless, silent, upon meeting death.

Suddenly, a window opens –
Releasing the entrance of fresh air.

We open our “wings”
And fly out into what’s been waiting
Out there – for all of us – all the time!

THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD

Human consciousness doesn’t continue after a human being’s death –
But inside God’s consciousness, it can and does –
It’s there – a “living reality” – inside God’s “mind.”

The Puritans were right – everything counts –
Every act, every thought, every feeling, counts.

Recently, though, we’ve been living as if they don’t – not really –
And that we’re able to brush off laws, norms,
And morals – frequently referred to as “the small stuff.”

But they aren’t “small” –
Lies go on forever
Cruelty persists
Murder can stain multiple generations
And they’re all available, by God – for playback.

Each decision we make is a choice
That lasts forever.

When we use our time and energy
To help or hurt –
It has lasting effects.

Each of our thoughts and acts is real –
Existing in real time and real space, using real energy
And, as a consequence, remains in God’s consciousness.

God also has the power to make that consciousness
Available to us – so that we can see – not just in the few moments before death –
But forever and ever –
All the consequences of our actions to everyone who’s been touched by them.

When we hurt someone – through God’s eyes – we can see what that felt like –
And what it felt like to those who loved that person
As well as all the wider consequences to their families, and even descendants.

We frequently think we can forget about consequences – that we can somehow evade them –
But we can’t
Because they happen in real time and real space
And are retained by God – every single one of them.

When God takes our actions out for review
We no longer can change them because, by then, “we’re” gone.

Inside God’s mind we’re still there though – alive – just as we were earlier –
Which lets us see – in excruciating, slow, fine detail
What we said and did – and all the consequences flowing out of those statements and actions.

This is why we have to take our thoughts and actions more seriously
While we still have an opportunity to change them – by turning away from negative ones
That is, by “repenting,” as the old-timers used to say.

Yes, it’s true that human beings’ lives do come to an end –
But not inside God’s consciousness –

If what we did or thought was ugly – it’ll still be ugly
And if it was beautiful, it’ll still be that.
Each act, each thought is incredibly important
Because all have real consequences – for us and for others –
That are permanent.

So don’t lie, don’t act in unkind ways –
Don’t accept the belief that there’s no God or lasting consequences –
For God, your actions and thoughts are all real
And will always remain so –
God keeps them alive – just as they were from the day they first came into existence.

So, please accept the joy of your actions if that’s what they illustrate
And take the pain caused if that also turns out to be the truth.

WHAT A GIFT – JESUS’ REAL DEATH

Doesn’t the splendor and meaning of Jesus life
Derive entirely from his death –
The actual one – the one he accepted
At the hands of Roman soldiers and Temple officials?

So, how could his death become more meaningful
By refusing to acknowledge it –
Playing the Roman game of power trumping power?

The truth is that if Jesus ever decides to come again
It would have to be spiritually, not materially,
After all, even now, isn’t he “alive”
In the hearts of people grateful for his gift –
Not as the prime source of some Pauline super-cult
But only as a human subject
Since subjects are the only type of human beings
Free enough to make a decision to physically die
In order to spiritually live.

If Jesus knew he was going to be resurrected
Wouldn’t his “death” have been pointless –
Since such “risen life” would have undermined
The meaning of his actual death –
The gift he had decided upon.

Jesus “became” God upon achieving the freedom to die for God
As well as for the rest of us –
So his gift would become available for future generations
By his spirit becoming generally available –
And God’s Kingdom, by that reason, starting to achieve reality here on earth
Among all people.

What a gift – that real death!

WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED!

“You must die before you die.”
                                    Rumi

It’s a race against time –
Like a river filling up,
Drowning you, and then leaving you behind.

We begin life swimming upstream –
Towards birth, towards an unfolding life, and, then, towards death –
Which comes like a wave –
Or an unfinished song.

There is physical life
And spiritual life –
But they don’t start at the same time
Or travel in the same direction.

The physical life starts out strong but over time winds down
Spiritual life may also get old quickly –
However, “dying” to discover the next life
Sometimes can be useful –
Getting born a second time before dying the first time –
Entering a spiritual world –
Eyes wide open –
Prepared for a birth into love and joy.

Life is such a surprise –
So unexpected –

Who would have guessed!

THE LAST TRUE HUMAN BEINGS

What’s the identity of the Spirit hiding behind “Manifest Destiny” –
Is it holy or unholy –
That is, God or Satan?

When white Americans use the term “Manifest Destiny” –
They mean God has given them all of this country
To work hard and become successful in –
But when the descendants of the victims hear those same words
It’s like a deep bronze bell tolling – “Death, Death – endless Death”
Along with “Rape, Robbery, and vile Murder” – on a genocidal scale.

Hundreds of thousands of Native Americans suffered mortally
Over the course of being cleared off their own lands –
In order to open the door to the introduction of millions of black African slaves –
Financed by Boston, New York, Philadelphia and, of course, London banks
That excitedly turned millions of human beings into dust – that is, “gold” dust –
To float back into the pockets of their European-American and European customers.

Yes, cruel centuries of black people’s sweat and pain were extracted
Over stolen Native American lands –
Capitalized by white men’s gold –
Violent greedy men –
Heartless paternalistic men –
Who, then, as now, cherished their unique ability to repress any crime –
Especially the largest ones
“Romantically” exchanging huge genocidal crimes
Into “God-approved” Manifest Destiny ones.

You can call it a murderous centuries-long genocidal “rape”
If you’re related to the victims –
Today, known as the last true human beings on earth.

TWIRLING

Soul asks Mind to leave the room
Because Soul can’t see itself while being watched –
And Mind does nothing else.

Mind is terrific at counting
But Soul doesn’t care about that – refusing to accept totals –
Instead, Soul closes its eyes and waits.

Soul is fond of surprises
Because its secret desire is to wake up
Delighted.

It’s super-important not to get Soul and Mind mixed up –
Though purity is essential to each –

Looked at from one direction – diamonds –
From another – raindrops.

I really don’t know much
But certainly want to go a lot deeper –
Life turning into death, and then, turning back into life again –
That long-forgotten dance.

So, I bow to God, saying:
“Let the dance commence!”

Joy frequently arrives through twirling.

GONE TO THE GODS

Death comes sneaking up like a cat
But I escape it by leaping into the air, twirling three times –
I play better than any death-cat.

Some days, I hope Death forgets to come –
But then I remember that Death never forgets –
Death always licks its plate clean.

Since I’ve recently been granted a new grandson in the world –
Will Death now consent to “punch my ticket” –
Scheduling me for a fast ride into oblivion.

As I approach closer to Death
I’m open to accepting its help in loosening my ties to the world –
Shedding old habits like flowers flung back into fields
Or bright coins – thrown out for strangers to be surprised by.

The last things to go will be my beloved books –
Every room in my house wears them with emotional warmth
But, one day, those shelves will all be emptied
And no one will know I ever lived here.

I hope I’m long gone before Death arrives
Who’ll be quite surprised at missing me –
Death thought I would be a tasty snack
But its teeth hit only air –
Because I’ve gone ahead to the gods –
And my own pregnant invisibility.

LIVING WITHOUT SPIRIT IS, IN ESSENCE, AN EARLY FORM OF DEATH

Who’s measuring the quantity and quality of spiritual energy
Remaining in the good ol’ US of A?
Who knows why our society’s life force, except for anger,
Has gotten dialed down so dim?

Living without spirit resembles being dead, doesn’t it?
Because ignoring the “light” means we’ll have to live out our lives in the dark –
In other words, lacking spiritual radiance, we’ll have lost the best of our humanity.

Babies intuit this – in spite of their lack of language –
Of course, later on, they’ll forget everything
After placing their little heads inside big adult egos.

Yet, among the rest of us, there still remains a deep hunger for reality
Or, to put it more simply, for “God” –
That is, for achieving the meaning hidden behind quotidian walls of meaninglessness.

Unfortunately, the word “God” is no longer much in use today –
Since the thrilling warmth and life traditionally associated with that term
Has steadily been removed from our everyday lives.

Nevertheless, for myself, I intend to keep on saying “God”
Because I know God’s there
Despite the surrounding fogbank of media and academic incomprehension.

I regret, however, that I’m unable to convey more of the reality of God in my own writing
Including my belief that God’s coming again
Perhaps, as a young South American girl –
So, when that happens, I expect
All the nihilistic deniers’ mouths to fly open
With awe!

BEAUTY (for Mary)

Isn’t it true that capitalism has been the death of beauty
Since as soon as anyone tries to buy beauty –
It crumbles, turns to dust, and slips out of one’s grasp.

Beauty must always be a gift, acquired solely through thoughts of love –
The kind of gift you hold onto until the end –
First, in your room, then in your chest of jewels,
And, finally, clasped in your dying hand.

This gift is one of pure joy, made solely for you.

A great deal of thought, patience, and passion went into this gift –
No one else in the world has anything like it.
It’s the first and last thought of an invisible American poet
Who nobody knows the name of.

Beauty is a spiritual light that makes the eyes shine –
Beauty is falling in love by accident – that is, “out of the blue” –
Beauty is holy lovemaking that, one night, created you, you, you!

Dear heart, only one,
You’re my beautiful true life-partner!

HEART OF GOD

My grandson, Jules, was recently born
Knowing a good part of what I’d like to know
The moment I die.

And that is – a moment of purity, serenity, and composure –
Before, one day in the future, hopefully, flowering into ecstatic joy.

From the moment of birth – God’s gift of first in-breath –
To the moment of death – God’s gift of final exhalation
Is usually a long and eventful road.

I myself would like to end up with Jules’ ability to gaze out at the world
With such unknowing “wonder” –
In fact, at the end, I’d like to achieve that same look –
Accompanied, of course, with a conscious compassion for the entire world.

I’d like to understand what Jules experienced as truth at his birth –
And then end up achieving a mature ability to love.

Jules, someday I’d like to be able to “see” as clearly as you did on day one –
While, over my lifetime, developing a heart as big as the entire world –
Perhaps even paralleling, in my own small way, God’s own infinite heart.

Yes, I want to go out as clear-eyed as this newborn baby arrived –
While, over time, diligently developing a heart of God.