When I Say Jesus…

January 31, 2015
by Michael
comments 64
Christ / Poetry

When I say Jesus
in these poems,
I hope you don’t think
that I think
that I know
with any real precision
what I’m talking about.

When a stone
says yes
to one day
returning to
the shimmering heart of a star,
and the star says yes
to beaming that stone’s endless heart
through all of space and time,
and the gravity inside of every
pebble, rock, and speck of sand
becomes a continuum of Meaning,
it becomes difficult to say
just what exactly that
stone has become,
or what all those other stones
are really up to.

What seems most important,
is that after years of wandering
from town-to-town,
gathering in taverns
or caves by the sea
to listen to sages and saints,
after walking across miles
of starlit landscapes,
some nights torn asunder
by the tensions of possibility and custom,
others rescued from the void
by the touch of a friend–
after latching onto and exploding insights
like a two-legged supernova
trying on three piece suits
made of granite,
a choice was made
to embrace Love so fully,
so completely,
that in the blink of an eye
that dove into the gap
between the disappearance
of the last second on the scoreboard
and the settling
of all that dust in the arena,
Existence itself suddenly realized:
I just swallowed myself whole.

Now Jesus is gone.
You and I have emerged–
a field of daffodils protected by snowy mountains.
There is a meaning in that
only the stones can explain,
a mysterious contour we trace together
through the darkness,
our hands linked in an endless chain
reaching back all the way
to the Beginning.

When I say you and I
in these poems,
I hope you don’t think
that I think
that I know
with any real precision
what I’m talking about.
That’s why we have Jesus,
to explain it to us.

64 Comments

  5. ptero9 says

    Dear Michael,

    We may not know, but we know that all that is, is known. That is why we imagine, express and exchange, partly for fun, but mostly to expand, as the universe does. How can we not?

    Much love,
    Debra

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
      • Hariod Brawn says

        Brilliant Michael; it’s lovely to let people know that one reads and appreciates their reflections. I ought to do it on my own site really; I think it fosters interconnections and the like – can you give me a clue as to how to go about it? Nothing obvious has occurred from initial explorations. Thanks!

        Like

        Reply
        • Michael says

          Hariod, I have to use the “Classic” Dashboard in WordPress to find this, but I found it under Settings>Sharing. Scroll down to the bottom of the “Sharing” settings and you should find it. Hope this helps!

          Michael

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
    • Michael says

      Hi Debra,

      I love the way you put this: that everything that is, is known. That quote gives me the same feeling as asking my mind to parse infinity. When I was a boy we had a painting in our house of a buffet table in heaven, (I presume), and it was a table with people seated at it that disappeared into light on the distant horizon. Same feeling. The One who knows that, simply has to share it…

      Love to you also
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  6. Alison and Don says

    This sent me spinning through a million galaxies and back again – to here. Now. And to again remembering the gorgeous ephemeral nature and connectedness of it all. Your words arise from nowhere and appear in front of me as a balm of magical truth. How does that happen?????
    Alison

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    Reply
    • Michael says

      Alison,

      I’m not in position to even attempt to answer how… 🙂

      Your description of your experience of this piece is beautiful. A real gift… Thank you for sharing that. And a million galaxies, and eight koalas, all in the same day…!? Indeed! It’s all stardust, which is to say it’s all photons, which is to say it’s all imbalances scuttling towards their soul mate, with whom they will bond and wink out of existence, for at the heart of every observable particle is an omni-powerful silence… And a baby koala… 🙂

      Much Love
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  9. marga t. says

    There are times on my treks in woods where I suddenly become aware of a tree or stone or mossy patch nearby that (who) is more present than me or any human I’ve come across, and there is a weird reckoning as I turn my attention to this, open and silent, feeling the presence that is here – and we laugh together, in the heart of their space, about how I could have just been standing there, so close by, lost in a make belief world, not even noticing something so vast and great waiting patiently for me to slip inside the door that they were holding open for me. The gravity inside, indeed! I also in these times imagine myself as I leave this identity and body running to the start gate saying, again, again, again – I will plunge in head first endlessly for the experiences of swallowing and being swallowed whole. You are such a delight, MM, with words that turn me skin side in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Marga,

      Your words bring me back to a time– a moment remembered– when I was in the third grade, and I looked up at the night sky and made a pact with my soul and God and whichever stars were listening, to be a good egg, the very best egg I could be, if it could mean I wouldn’t have to come back to a place like this… Not just a little bit sad in hindsight, but you are right… it’s moments of connection that trump these crazy, tightly held darknesses… At some point along the way, I realized I could come back again if I had to, because I began to realize our lives here mean something, that we make a difference to one another, and because you realize at some point… there is something incomplete here, some Love yet to be given, some Possibility hatching from the darkness of our history. I don’t want to depart now, without healing forever the desire to be anywhere other than where I am…

      Much Love
      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  10. John says

    Our hands linked in an endless chain–so evocative of Indra’s web. The flow of your words prompt a flow of energy through the chakras. Thank you, as always, Michael.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, John. Your description is lovely. This poem, then, is a link in the chain… for we have both reached through it into the unknown eternal!

      Peace
      Michael

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      Reply
    • Michael says

      Hi Alia,

      Thank you for your kind words. I am still returning in the core of my being to your lovely post about the power and presence of the trees. Consider the humbled and grateful feeling to be mutual.

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
          • New Earth Paradigm says

            There aren’t too many.
            There are many cultivated olive and fig trees but not many evergreens or forests, although there are some decent mountains. I have not been to the Atlas mountains yet, so perhaps I will find some there. The olives and figs have there own presence. However, I am partial to evergreens and so I am filling myself up with them while in the Pacific Northwest — taking lots of photos for my own enjoyment and to show my Moroccan family upon return. Thank you for asking. ♥

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply
            • Michael says

              I don’t picture Morocco as having too many trees, but fig and olive trees seem to make sense in whatever mind associations I have from reading Encyclopedia Brittanica entries in elementary school… 🙂 Enjoy the evergreens! You are certainly in the right country for them there. I like evergreens, too, and am finding them particularly radiant here in winter. It seems to me they have a special connection to this season…

              Peace
              Michael

              Liked by 1 person

            • New Earth Paradigm says

              Yes, they do love the cold but all of Nature is lifting up on the higher vibrational currents coming forth from their Mother Gaia. The Natural Wolrd does not resist these gifts, as some of us human counterparts do. They just say “Thank You” and radiate the extra glow. ♥

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    • Michael says

      Thank you, Lorrie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Just doing some reading over at your site, and hope you are feeling whole and strong…

      Much Love
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • lorriebowden says

        Thank you Michael…it means a lot to me! I am truly exhausted…it has been a very emotional day (week for that matter.) But I do feel whole (a beautiful way of stating it!) and I get stronger every moment it seems 🙂 Many blessings to you, Michael…and much love right back ❤

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        Reply
        • Michael says

          Lorrie,

          I’m glad. I wrote a comment on your site moments ago, but it went up in smoke. Apparently I dilly-dallied too long and was logged out or something. At any rate, you are obviously moving through this situation with courage and clarity, and looking at the comments on your site, your prayers have been answered many times over. You have such a loving presence, even through this electronic forum– it is hard to imagine anyone bullying you… It goes to show the blindness of violence in all its forms. Take care of yourself… you’re worth it! And for what it’s worth, I find Archangel Michael to be a pretty decent all-purpose hell-raiser and defender of the Holy Peace… Give him a ring if you are in need of a wing man… 🙂

          Michael

          Liked by 2 people

          Reply
          • lorriebowden says

            Michael…simultaneous tears and a huge smile!! Thank you so much 🙂 It goes right along with one of the comments which said it is okay to feel everything…and that we can have opposing emotions at the same time. I think that is the problem really. If it was just some guy off the street I would have no problem walking away. But it is someone I love (or at least I am supposed to…cause it is hard to sometimes.) And I think I always wish for it to change …for him to get the healing that he so desperately needs.

            And thank you, Michael, for your very high praise of my loving presence. I am that person now…or at least most times I strive to be. But this was not always the case…hurt people hurt…and I was no different. I am on a healing journey and I am so grateful for the lessons I learn…even when it’s the hard way 😉 My goal is to be aware…and to stay in “love.” I’m sorry to say that I reacted so poorly to him…I went to his energy instead of staying in mine…but I have learned a great deal.

            Thank you so much…and you are correct…my prayers have been answered many times over…and I won’t forget Archangel Michael…he sounds like fun!! 🙂 ❤

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply
            • Michael says

              Lorrie, I think you are ready for a promotion, if your goal is to be aware… 🙂 Just sayin’…

              Archangel Michael is indeed fun, if you like calling upon beings whose presence is a brick wall of light that no falsehood can breach. You’ve heard the children teasing each other by saying “I’m rubber and you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you…”? I think it’s kind of like that, only whatever is said that isn’t fitting is just whisked right out of existence. Gone. Better that way. No side effects. 🙂

              Michael

              Liked by 1 person

            • lorriebowden says

              Oh! Indeed, we need to meet then 🙂 I can’t believe you quoted the “I’m rubber and you’re glue,” I just said that jokingly the other day! Thank you, Michael…your support is very important to me. Hope the rest of your week is beautiful!”<3

              Like

  15. Hariod Brawn says

    When the Buddhist says “Nibbana”, when the Hindi says “Moksha”, when the Jain says “Kevala Jnana”, when most of us say “God”, well, no one knows precisely what they’re talking about. No wonder the atheists are having a field day. And this is the deep and unfathomable beauty of faith.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Michael says

      I think maybe the atheists are having a field day, because a certain spectrum of people of all faiths are convinced they know exactly what they’re talking about…

      Michael

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  16. stockdalewolfe says

    Dear Michael,
    What a mystical, mind expanding poem. The thoughts are so powerfully inspiring and beautiful, I, too am humbled. Love it all, but especially:
    When a stone
    says yes
    to one day
    returning to
    the shimmering heart of a star,
    and the star says yes
    to beaming that stone’s endless heart
    through all of space and time,
    and the gravity inside of every
    pebble, rock, and speck of sand
    becomes a continuum of Meaning,
    it becomes difficult to say
    just what exactly that
    stone has become,
    or what all those other stones
    are really up to.
    Thank you, Michael

    Like

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Ellen. And thank you for the reblog as well. Now we’re all humbled together… which is kind of like saying, we’re all seeing the beauty in one another… which I think is kind of the point here… 🙂

      Much Love
      Michael

      Like

      Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Ka!

      As a brief aside, is it Chinese medicine you are studying? I was just thinking of the lovely poem I just read at your own site, and your reference to it, and putting two and two together, and I confess my curiosity has gotten the better of me, I’m afraid… 🙂

      Peace
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
        • Michael says

          Sounds quite interesting, Ka! And yes, he must have visited you, too! My take on this is that if he visits one of us, he’s visiting all of us. We like to think we have our own private deal going… and… we do… but all those private deals have a certain similarity to them… a place where we all meet…

          Michael

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  20. LadyPinkRose says

    I, in all honesty, don’t even know what to say here or how to explain in cumbersome words, how deeply your words affected me. And here I thought I was a deep thinker. No. You it seems start where I end and then some. Humbled beyond what I could possibly say, I thank you for following Petals. To know I have such Bright Souls following me, puts tears in my eyes, and gives me HOPE that this world, together, we shall change. I just arrived from an Inner Wrestle making decisions regarding blood family, arriving back to this point as the Star I AM, foraging again forward as I leave smalldom for hugedom. I fly with WP as I see you do as well. As for Jesus, he is the Voice I do hear, and just writing those words, almost brings me to my knees in tears. I have found the courage to write what I hear, and again, knowing others are Brave of Heart, confirms that my “family” I have found through WP. Bless you many times over for the Work you have been asked to do. I see a Good and Faithful Shining Light before me. Bless you! Bless you! Love, Amy

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • Michael says

      Thank you, Amy. I am touched by your sentiments. I’m so glad you enjoyed the writing, and that you brought a heart full of loving memories and prayerful desires with you to dance with the words. It takes all of it to bring the writing to life. I know what you mean about writing something down, and tears coming to your eyes. It’s a good feeling to realize how much help there is… how much beauty all around us… I look forward to reading more of your own writing.

      Blessings
      Michael

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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