January, 2003 Edition

Poetry

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The Best - Lao Tzu

The best, like water,
Benefit all and do not compete.
They dwell in lowly spots that everyone else scorns.
Putting others before themselves,
They find themselves in the foremost place
And come very near to the Tao.
In their dwelling, they love the earth;
In their heart, they love what is deep;
In personal relationships, they love kindness;
In the world, they love peace.
In personal affairs, they love what is right.
In action, they love choosing the right time.
It is because they do not compete with others
That they are beyond the reproach of the world.

The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 8, Translation by Stephen Ruppenthal.

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Covenant with Sea, See and C's - Georgene Wilson

I sit. I gaze at a gentle lapping
Lake: Michigan we’ve named her:
One of the great. I listen.
"This space," she says, "is door". Yes,
Every thing and place is an
Icon for soul-seeing.
Lapping quickens to a noisy wake.

Today is eleven + 11 ‘til that
Day of September when
Terror awakened our nation to
Fears long hiding in caves of
Arrogance, in stock-piles of dominating
Powers and assumed privileges.
Then, too, I gazed.
A sea of compassion at high-tide with
Waves of towering disbelief slammed the
Shores of my heart. A presence stormed,
"See! All are breathed into me, an ocean of mercy;
No distinction of position in my heart of
Communion and kin-dom."

Now is a door to re-member then.
See the sea changes! And so I
Bathe in the vastness of ocean,
Or lake, or tear, or a glass of memory wine.
Mystery begs
Consciousness,
Common Ground,
Communion,
Compassion: Covenants of commitment to all whom
Con-temple.

8/2002 Written in Door County, Wisconsin, USA

Georgene L. Wilson is a Wheaton Franciscan Sister. She holds a Doctor of Ministry from University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois, USA. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Interreligious Engagement Project, A Network for the 21st Century and the Common Ground Faculty.

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The Discipline of Heart Seeing - Georgene Wilson

Do not stand in adoration
Until you are as practiced as
The life before you.

Until you are rooted in the mother
Earth,
And are reaching outside self-boundaries into
The cosmos,
Allowing change to weather you
Here: Now;
Do not adore a tree.

Worship projected on objects deceives;
Making idols
Of icons inviting participation.

Only:
Gazing into subjects of life;
Receiving glances through windows - eyes of I AM;
Knowing that you also mirror the Holy;
Only such wisdom: such being
Issues praise worthy of insight.

When:
Bacteria and black holes;
Sins and sinew;
Heartbeats and heartaches;
Birth and death;
Tear and ocean;
Famine and feast;
Grit and galaxies;
Leprosy and ballet;
Matter and spirit:
When all epiphany the Mysterium,
Then you are ready to pray:
"Adoremus Te".

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Now is the Time - Hafiz

Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.

Now, why not consider
A lasting truce with yourself and God.

Now is the time to understand
That all your ideas of right and wrong
Were just a child’s training wheels
To be laid aside
When you can finally live
With veracity
And love.

Hafiz is a divine envoy
Whom the Beloved
Has written a holy message upon.

My dear, please tell me,
Why do you still
Throw sticks at your heart
And God?

What is it in that sweet voice inside
That incites you to fear?

Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.

This is the time
For you to deeply compute the impossibility
That there is anything
But Grace.

Now is the season to know
That everything you do
Is sacred.

Found in The Gift, Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master.
Translations, Daniel Ladinsky. Compass, Published by the Penguin Group, NY, 1999.

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The Trees - Dhammananda

The rain falls
On the trees and plants
equally.
Some grow to be sturdy trees,
Some grow to be tiny grass,
The seeds are different.

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Rise and Fall - Dhammananda

Praising,
The mind rises,
Gossip,
The mind falls,
One who practices
Is constantly aware
Both praise and gossip
Are only sound.
If you can let go
Both rise and fall
Disappear.