Best Enlightenment Poems
There is a land where peaceful giants dwell
A magic forest, on a mountainside
Its waterfall carved out a wishing well
Where wishes ride a giant waterslide
An old stone troll bridge leads up to its crest
The pesky trolls were banished long ago
Their sandstone cottage, now a place of rest
For deer who graze on summer grass below
Its summit came for me mid-afternoon
My endless quest for treasure took me there
I stayed the night, cavorting with the moon
The sun aroused me from my lofty lair
The fortune which I found could not be spent
For who knows the price of enlightenment
by Daniel Turner
Quietude endows hushed mystical space
Admonishing words have no role to play—
Look how in solitude its posture bends
Bowing in deference to calming intellect.
Listen to the utterance of wailing heart
Where grieved voices subtly resonate
In stygian echoes of aches and pain
As bawl of mortal life kneels down to pray.
Touch of gifted hands magically illuminates
Enlightenment of soul’s secret message
Setting aside obtuse incredulous images,
Silencing the whims of infuriating regrets.
Glowing in epiphany of truths ornate
Emanating from the heart’s regal reign,
Voice of divinity in conquest reverberates
Winning decisively dissonant arguments.
Gaining wisdom of supreme knowledge,
Free from shackles of ordinary, mundane;
Revelations disarm the earthly laments
Basking in discovery of heavenly solace.
March 2, 2020
Poem of the week on March 8, 2020
Placed 1st: Picture prompt poetry contest
Sponsor: Brenda Chiri
Placed 2nd: Your Best Free Verse 2020 Poetry Contest
By John Hamilton
So many think about changing the whole world,
few think about changing their very selves.
Standing on the precipice, peer beyond.
Pierce your personal, privileged bubble.
View the vast vision across all beings.
In wonder, count the petals of a flower.
Be amazed, probe a chambered nautilus.
Walk backwards out of Fibonacci's Spiral
into eternal embrace with enlightenment.
Spin science's vortex, fall into art's abyss.
Through the dark to the light and back again.
A looking glass within a looking glass,
mirroring all nature, realities' rules.
It seems little opens closed minds much
but when it does, it opens hearts forever.
Buddha's "mind-heart" path, hoping all will walk.
Walking through two doors at once can happen.
Trust that quantum particles jumping
in and out of existence can be real.
Or gaze deeply into a baby's eyes
and not picture the expanding universe.
Rather, see yourself this time, finally looking out.
Enlightenment finds you, you don't find it.
As it approaches, make your mind be still
all you need is loving-kindness and a smile.
Illustration Colored Pencil By G. Gaul
Life is like a gentle sigh
Breathing out a heartening reply
Coloring the thoughts in laughing gold
Silencing worries and struggles so untold
Whispering peace into the heart and soul
Lighting up the spirit so it’s alive and whole
Easing the broken heart with warm hope
That comforts the solemn, helping them cope
Breaking through the worry and pain
Soothing the heart who knows the rain
Life isn’t about who will always win the race
It’s about who will love with kindness and grace
Inspired by Jo Daniel’s poem, Life is not – which I dearly loved
God sent His only Son to Earth to bring
Enlightenment, Hope and Harmony.
Free will forbade that he should force
The Truth on world that would not see.
For thirty years Christ labored here,
With His clear message from above.
Enlightenment, Hope and Harmony
Will come when Man has learned to love.
Betrayed by one professed as friend,
Christ died upon the cruel tree.
The only charges they could press
Were Enlightenment, Hope and Harmony.
Christ died, but then He did not die
And His bright light still lights the way
To Enlightenment, Hope and Harmony
If we live and love in His pure way.
April 20/13
For Enlightenment, Hope and Harmony contest
Away from the fever and fret of life
In absolute stillness, in abject surrender
Looking into the core of my being
In deep silence and solitude
In an ardent gesture of adoration
I was in dialogic communion with God.
In that divine setting, I heard the spirit whisper,
“Shear off the cumbersome, get down to the essentials.
Petty fears and petty pleasures are just shadows.
Search not for the transitory but seek the eternal.”
A rare quiet flooded in and engulfed me
The window of my soul opened to light,
And the hidden well springs were revealed to me.
I became part of the silence, merged with the harmony.
In my nothingness, I found my all.
‘Heard the harvest song of inward peace.’
Never was a moment more perfect!
Under the ‘Bodhi’ tree, that moment stood alone!
Seek Life after life
Illusive task to obtain
Beyond doubts and fall
Start and end dramas
Decipher complexities
Find partial answers
Paradigm issues
Confusion overrate quest
Esteem falters wit
Stand mindful actions
Stuck within clearer pathways
A stretch still needed
Persistent conscience
Always crave enlightenment
Recall life purpose.
Immerse in the tranquility of truth
And believe in the opulence of your
Devine being, BEHOLD IT,
As the proof, You seek is THOU
As Heaven’s Breath of Spiritual eloquence
As an Infinite horizon
In the radiance of light of Heaven
As beyond Yourself
As LOVE with Conscious intent
In the waves of Tenderness
Ascending and Receding
To return to the Egoless light
Behold,
Open the gate of your Heart
To witness the fountain of LOVE
The redeeming endless flow
That reconciles LOVE to life
Dear wandering pilgrim,
The gatekeeper Of HEART,
BLEED THE WATER OF LOVE
EAGERLY and BLISSFULLY
TO CLEANSE
THE WORLD IMPURITIES
And give gratitude to let the Fountain
Of Purity, Kindness, and Tenderness
Trail the robe of Bliss and Glory
TO BESTOW LOVE,
HUMANITY And COMPASSION
Until YOU REMEMBER
that YOU are ‘’LOVE’’
THE ULTIMATE HEALER
THE ULTIMATE
MANIFESTATION OF TRUE LOVE
THE TRUE SUBLIME CREATION OF LOVE
To define innocence in the
countenance of a child's smile
and love's eminence in wildflowers,
conceive infinity in exalted ocean's roar
whilst summer breezes glance splendor
flourishing jasmine and hummingbirds
amidst evermore expansive sunrises,
whence space and time ceases to exist
thereupon shall enlightenment dwell
Solid roots buried deep within the earth
Though a chimera
Far above the dense ground
High high above
Where there is no one else around
But down down below
To a place rarely talked about
Where everybody goes
To confront the darkness that lies within
Slowly eating away at our soul
Slowly devouring us all
A species as a whole
Will things ever change?
yes
For better or worse
The answer is unknown
Whether or not we choose to live life recklessly
We all endure our own kind of legacy
Whether or not we choose to be seen
Is irrelative to our destiny
Run from Fame
Ego
Arrogance
Radicalism
Carrying the restricted hatred of shame
With nothing of any true value to gain
Chasing satisfaction
In an immoral domain
Having the power to enthrall the criminally insane
Having to always pretend to play this game
Hoping that it’s all a game
All from the same death set aflame
Burning ghosts of an iridescent pain
Praying that some sense of morality still remains
I shine my light upon the green earth
Reaching down from heaven’s domain
To show the world that their fantasies
Are the way that I illuminate the night
I touch the stars with my soft perimeters
Radiate love through clouds and storms
Mystify the writers and poets of nature
Send a shadow of insight across the seas
I melt with a heart of hope bound by faith
Sliding through the core of dancing spirits
Dwelling quietly along the mountain ridges
My destiny suspended within sweet dreams
I rest my graceful beauty against the eyes
Who take time to notice how I’ve survived
Decades of mystical wishes and embraces
From melancholy souls who treasure praises
I am the color of glittering stars that are afire
Imagining inspirations that color me with yearnings
For reaching across the sorrows and anxieties
With comforting joy and assured confidence
I accept the romantic affections that create peace
And welcome the dazzling enlightenment they bring
With their sense of promise and optimistic ways
Filling up the world with creative intimacy and wisdom
I give away the buoyant caress that others so crave
Risking everything to bring the dance of serenity
With echoes of sensitivity I sing a sweet song
Erasing all fear with my gentle and wise experience
I thrill the onlooker who hopes to find a cure for pain
Moving beyond their limited view toward potency
Feelings filled with brilliant reasons for knowing healing
That comes from perceiving the compassion I express
With me, the haunting moon, there is bold acceptance!
STRAND completely new (3) any theme any form Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand
June 30, 2020
If slavery was a choice, as some have agreed, then what are we?
If watching your father and mother endure rape or murder was a choice,
Then why do we sit on idle hands, while Trump eradicates our posterity’s opportunities,
As if they were written in sand?
If not being able to read was a choice,
Then why do you go to the PlayStation in a rush
while your library card collects dust?
Even a Ward educates themselves,
Even the eunuch Greyjoy developed the courage to stand against evil.
In the midst of upheaval, one mustn’t look through a straw while planning the future.
The sagacious knows fighting must be eschewed when only death is in thy terms.
Allah heard their suffering, but sometimes the way out is through.
They didn’t endure out of docility or obsequiousness,
But out of discernment and sagacity.
The desolate doesn’t become prosperous by exclaiming tumultuous absurdities,
But by embodying opulent minds.
Go back to the mother, which is the way, and endure the storm,
While being metamorphic in form.
You see, my Kings and Queens,
The only choice they made was to give their posterity a fighting chance,
To gather strength while the usurpers wane and start to underestimate.
We must pick up the quill and write our own fates,
No more brooding or carping about what Donny Thrump is doing.
One man’s decisions determine another man’s life,
As much as a drought challenges the land.
Yet, life, like the Way, will always find a path to flourish,
Forevermore permeating even the harshest conditions.
We must stop talking about what great leaders and men should be,
And become Great Men and Assiduous Leaders.
We were the first great civilization and shall act as such.
Lead with grace,
Strike with prudence,
Read great books that enrich the mind,
Treat each other with unyielding reverence,
Because we each carry a piece of the divine.
I am that I am, and I am my brother's keeper.
Imagine myself..
a traveller from the ancient world of history -
world of Buddha, Hsuen Tsang and Fa Hien,
land of Pyramids, and Great Wall... walking through ages..
in search for knowledge, spirituality, harmony..
crossing through meandering rivers and mighty oceans,
hills and dales of the universe,
in quest of love, kindness and inner peace.
Probably many have imagined the same way as I do...
inspired by the chimes soaring above from the temples,
standing on the seashore with sapphire waves rolling away, meditating on serene snowy mountaintops,
with chartreuse waterfalls descending on coral rocks.
History of human civilization....
A history of inquiry, enlightenment and attainment of peace.
References: Hsuan Tsang - 7th century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller
Fa Hien - Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled on foot from China to India
Buddha - Spiritual leader. The word itself means "enlightenment".
FIRST PLACE
September 27, 2021
For "Q" New Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
For Strand - 1058 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Brian Strand
seeking transcendence
thought construct aspiration
delusion deepens
27-January-2021
You were the person who taught me that love
Is about giving from the heart,
Without a second thought
Love that is a part of every moment
The inspiration for joy and peace
The spark of hope that dreams
And believes…
Love is the answer each of us needs
When the heart is shattered
Broken beyond description
Filled with despair and pain
Capable of changing everything
You were the person who was honest and kind
You gave from the heart instead of the mind
Sincere and serene, you patiently tried
To provide sympathy and empathy
When I felt like I would never be
Filled with the hope and love
Of my dreams
You were the person who taught me that love
Is about giving from the heart
Without a second thought
And I’m filled with joy because
I’m giving from the heart
Without a second thought…
When I say…
I will always love you