Today word comes that those in crisis face starvation and apartheid. Face neglect and suicide And beyond that eradication. The sun shines this morning. I’ve no place to be. The clouds are puffy and content. The birds sing joy. What to do with all of this? For so long I’ve…

Just past the front door, as you open it, And step in, are three large, human sized Potted plants — trees really. Call them trees. The pots like those pots that sit outside Official buildings that stop cars from Driving through. Close together. And the Plants have spikes. The trees…

I would write this book. Then climb this tree. I’d find sea glass and tell you their secrets. The green is soda and death. The red is blood and life. You’d know in the crook of your arm why I love you so. I’d write this tree and climb this book And lick you clean like the barn cat I met in North Carolina, older than the hills. You’d know me because for once I’d have nothing to hide. I’d tell the truth, though I’ve not much practice with such things. I’d find you some sea glass — gray is my soul broken but still alive.

We live in the in-between and we live in the not quite yet. We live in the grey and with full awareness of the uncertainties at every turn. Oh, how we long for the sure bet, the guarantees, the absolute. And life smiles. …

A prayer for the hospital setting Loving God, Holy One, We pray for the power to be gentle. The strength to be forgiving. The patience to be understanding. We pray for vision to see and faith to believe in this new day, this new opportunity. Help us to devote our lives to your work of healing and peace. Amen.

Look, even now you must remember that the rains will come. The land is parched. The sun is hot. The day, it never ends. …

Arise. As they say. Shine. The light is upon us. A new day has come. Few will see what you’ve accomplished and where you’re headed. You will not make the Times or E! or even your favorite journal. Arise. As they say. Shine. Anyway. Despite all of that. You are not that which in days of old moved heaven, earth Or mountains. The light has come. A new day is here. Go to it. This longing, this calling,

A MOMENT OF LOVING REGARD FOR WHAT IS The silence is all there is…Annie Dillard Is she here or is she there? The elderly asked of her elderly mother, who lay dying, quiet and still as an August wind. Blazing sun. Already the morning dripped. Nearby a fly buzzed. Get. Scoot…

Uncrowd my heart, O God, until the silence speaks. Thomas Merton I found briefly, briefly, briefly The silence that makes the heart. The stillness that has legs and Breathes and dances in your rib Cage: whispering, this is the nothing You were born into and the nothing You’ll return to, which is to say the Nothing that…