Waves shape the sound of soaring sea
Ride the tides of what ought to be
Layer on layer out of reach
Breaking breakers bound on our beach
Stirring swirls make clear waters curl
Rolling rumblings leap to unfurl
Watery spritz that twist then sway
As bubbled foam pulls back away
Each wave differing grasping high
Trying to touch the spacious sky
Dreams drenched in schemes form a swell
A place where long lost droplets dwell
While watching waves we hear their call
Musing their constant rise and fall
This seen so many times before
Yet one yearns to see still once more
102 words couplet 16 lines 8/25
Colored Pencil Illustration by G.Gaul
Enlightenment
Enlightenment, don’t know what it is…
As endless waves swell and break
On the ocean of Samsara
All the while under Nirvana’s spacious sky.
Is there such a thing
As a final goal,
Or is it instead
An endless process of becoming?
How should I know? But I do know
That once I knew with all my heart
I would eventually become enlightened
And in that moment it didn’t matter when.
Because when you know with all your heart
The goal has already been reached
And the endless process of becoming
Is known to be nothing but a dream.
(8/4/25)
On Fertile Ground
(A Settler’s Song of Thanks)
We settled here on fertile ground.
Trees filled the orchards all around,
and fields of crops would soon appear.
On fertile ground we settled here.
We bought some land – my love and I.
Amazed were we by spacious sky
from which rains fell; our crops were grand!
My love and I – we bought some land.
Fruits plump and sweet; gold-ripened corn;
our harvest truly was a horn
of plenty, with so much to eat:
gold-ripened corn; fruits plump and sweet.
With thanks much owed, we praised the Lord,
and I was proud of my adored
who by my side reaped what we sowed.
We praised the Lord with thanks much owed.
On fertile ground, long-settled here
with healthy children, it is clear
to this dear land we’re ever bound -
long-settled here on fertile ground.
Aug. 12, 2021 (this is a form called swap-quatrain)
For A Brian Strand Your Choice Poetry Contest
The Wheel
is always turning.
The wheel of consequence —
The wheel of liberation —
The wheel in one’s chest
trying to find its place in the machinery of the world —
It can take you anywhere, this wheel,
all roads are open to it,
the dark roads of consequence —
the bright roads into the spacious sky —
The wheel is always turning,
headed somewhere,
taking the long way,
the short way,
trying to get somewhere,
trying to find its center,
going around in circles trying to get back to the beginning,
the eyes of the spokes turned outward,
looking, searching,
emerging like rays of light
from a point of stillness,
a beginning they cannot see,
the beginning the path will never arrive at
the beginning that was never left behind —
but it is only the path,
only the turning,
that can finally reveal
the one thing that has never changed,
the place where all journeys begin and end.
Dec 27, 2020
Lotus of my Heart contest
Sponsor Mystic Rose Rose
How bountiful is the spacious sky
Releasing breaths in a single sigh
My soul is calmed by the rising sun
Revitalizing rays lively spun
Intoxicating aromas play
Winds of desire baroque their ballet
Landscapes levitate their mountain peaks
For Angels attend as Heaven speaks
Night nestles with the mesmeric moon
The Mockingbird sings a starry tune
Lovers cocoon where shadows seduce
Amidst spacious sky lustering loose.
April.26.2020
Couplet- any theme
Sponsored by: Dear Heart
Placed 1'st...Thank You
the moon hangs high
in the spacious sky
your chestnut hair
looks lovely laced with silver.
Gently floating past
Each uniquely cast
Weaving in the air
So the sky isn't bare
And as they gather
Into a thick dark lather
The wind whips through
Concealing a sky that is blue
And when they had their say
Darkening nearly the entire day
They suddenly quickly disperse
Leaving the sun to again immerse
One by one
They dance under the sun
Each charted a way in Gods spacious sky
As yet another cloud passes me by
asking love
to fill this
spacious sky
like a flock
of birds
nor do we
deny this
will to
fly
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