Questions

Answers

Some point to the edge of the world,
Others to the end of time.
Still others dig deep into the ground
while some look to the stars.
A seer reads signs and portents in bones.

Perhaps the answer was written in the dust
on some ancient chalkboard of long ago.
Or maybe the answer fell like ash from the sky
after some tremendous volcanic eruption 
leaving an arm raised forever with a question.
Or maybe fallow fields await some future ripeness
as the answer begins to settle upon new ground.

We wait, pondering what it all means,
asking and spinning off answers 
at a dizzying pace, never quite believing
that we have been placed with careful attention
as an answer to all questions.

A Rainbow With Hands

A morning tear on my cheek begins my day.
Am I tired out from yesterday's chase after answers
or saddened the answers remain in the dark?
It has been said by those who know,
We must choose to live with the questions.
I am glad the ache in my heart and the ache in my head
remain the same from one year to the next.
I still demand the same though time moves on.
And a precious daughter writes me notes of love
and a drawing of a rainbow with hands.

Answers

Seek beautiful dialogue
on the nature of answers.

The greatest possible number of answers
should not create the smallest number of questions.

Adequate answers should never satisfy
those who seek to live at the edge of time.

Beware of answers creating
a numbing of the mind.

Divine movement does not hide in answers
but in questions asked in awkward moments.

Answer Location

Practice to perform, says life's manual.
Many pages remain to be filled before 
it is time to close the little black book.
Perhaps today will be the day
when no clues are necessary to learn 
a search to find the answer
lies not outside on some forgotten doorstep
but very close to the heart.

“Much Madness is Divinest Sense” – Emily Dickinson

How much capital 'M' Madness must be displayed
before the sane ones bring out the chains?

Which graveyard where all the Gathered Ones 
gibber to each other does it make Sense to visit?

Where is the echo of the Voices of the prophets
sharing the Much forgotten wisdom of the Ages?

When will the Divinest light of the moon
shine upon the imperfect feet walking the ground?

Answers

There is great irony when the proclaimers 
of one way encounter many paths to the
mountaintop.  The shadowed slice of the moon
creates itself in our eyes.  Who can tell how phases
exist solely in relation to movement around the sun?
Atonement found on the cross can also be found
whenever you set off to forage in the wilderness
for something you lost on the day of your birth.
Awareness and light both have infinite gradations
so do not worry about being a perfect caretaker
to those in need of attention at all times.  Simply
promise to yourself upon stepping outdoors
to explore your own freedom, opening your arms
to the realm where answers seem less important.

What Is at Risk?

Begin with the question, 
What did you come here for?
which is really another way of asking, 
Why take your next breath?

Then slowly, 
as if all of life depends 
upon how you unfold 
the tapestry of life, ask, 
What is at risk to live?

What is wrong with finding a reason
or a pattern where none actually exists?

How often must I become aware of my awareness
before enlightenment rushes upon me and decides to stay?

Is the next moment Time brings to me
the result of a repetition or of a sequence?

When will the next usual day happen 
where nothing unusual happens?

Four More Questions

How often does myth need to be invoked,
pulled from the ordinary and mundane?

What removed the wonder of the simple mystery
heard in the morning's first birdsong?

Where did I learn to slow down for this moment,
less hurried to get somewhere?

Why does one need to capture time
that is already held in the infinite?