Hafiz and I
on a bench, basking
in a rosy sunset.
Falcons gathering
on the limbs overhead–
some Merlins, some Sooties, a Grey–
all of them edging awkwardly close,
coalescing into an artillery of vision.
The theater is full.
A door opens
like an out-sized black pixel
on the face of the sun–
a cuckoo-clock pronouncement–
and brilliant
birds of flame fly out
to swoop across
our sky
like smoke rings
blown by the sun’s
innermost wizard.
Hafiz opens his hand.
I place into it a ten spot.
The black pixel closes,
swallowed by the light.
This is how it is now.
We’re down to revelation.
The falcons
are chirping amen.
There’s no way
to put the lid back on,
because this morning’s world
no longer holds water,
and I’m down
to my last
dollar.
Embracing Forever 
Balancing on the edge of a moment… when is it ever not like this?
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This reply was stunningly perfect from where I sit, Tiramit. Thank you for seeing straight into it all…
Peace
Michael
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Wonderfully mystical Michael, and conveying perhaps a tantalising feeling in some way too. I am unsure quite what you are saying, yet interpret your words as if the subject is, as it were, ‘spent’ spiritually – in terms of psychical energy and application – and yet hope, faith (call it what we will) remains. I daresay I am hopelessly off-beam here!
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Hariod,
I probably should have kept working this one– working the feeling into the words until it shone through a little more clearly. It began with a feeling that life is unexpected, in a good way. That there is something about it exceeding our expectations, and somehow we can find our way to it. In this case, I imagined losing a series of bets to Hafiz. It’s like I can’t stop– like being a child and discovering a magician, and wondering if they could possibly have another trick up their sleeve… The child asks, uncertain, and then it is so delightful when it unfolds! So, every time I lose this bet I lose something– I lose being right… but I gain so much… There’s a real chagrin about this! It’s a game of undoing, but of gaining everything… And Hafiz just sitting there with his hand out… Pay up.
Whether the poem or the explanation is more clear doesn’t matter at this point. I only hope you catch the feeling… for it is a delight!
Michael
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I beg to differ; the work is perfect as it is Michael, and in any case, I know you will generously allow me to wander off course as I do so frequently. I am slowly learning to allow my reading of poetry to be more about feeling than meaning, in much the same way as I had to do that with gaining an appreciation of abstract art. The intellect is so prosaic.
Now, I received your beautiful book this morning, which arrived safely following its long journey, and which stirred in me some vicarious excitement, the same being – if I am not once again mistaken – surely and justifiably felt within yourself. It feels rather special to hold the work in a physical medium. Why would that be? Because I know what it is.
With the greatest gratitude,
Hariod.
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Dear Hariod,
I am delighted to hear the book enjoyed safe passage to you, and your poetic response offered here has brought a tear to the corner of my eye– for in your “knowing what it is” something ineffable has resounded in the chamber of my heart, and has passed between us. Something neither here nor there, but that lives between us and takes roots from both, has put forth a flower.
I do so love it when you wander off course. ‘Tis easily done, when the course does not exist… It is interesting to fall back on our feelings when exploring creative works, and I realize in reflecting on this how much of the meaning of a work is derived from the response of the receivers. In this way, all creativity must be set free to take flight on its own…
My greatest gratitude to you also, my friend…
Michael
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Dear Michael,
Giving everything feels good. When we empty ourselves and are emptied by love. This segment called out to me, “We’re down to revelation. The falcons are chirping amen.” I feel gratitude in that phrase. I feel like we are uplifted by a new lightness of being in the face of awareness… value is value, not money, not quantifiable. It’s about how free we are, and how much meaning we assign to what we have. This is coming from someone who also appreciates clarity of thought and level reasoning – and who aspires to live well and live free with you and everyone else. Namaste.
In peace,
Ka
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Dear Ka,
Yes!!! When we lose everything, we’re the fullest. It’s amazing…
I love your line about a new lightness of being in the face of awareness, because this says it for me. When we catch a glimpse of it, it does lighten and brighten and inspire. There’s a lack of logic to this… something almost tantalizing as Hariod said… a feeling you can’t quite pin down… It’s what emerges between any of us, in relationship, in that moment we want to hold and savor, that can never come from being wholly on our own…
I share in your aspirations, and your inspirations!
Peace to you also,
Michael
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achingly beautiful, and wonderfully mysterious.
thank you.
(and i got your letter, and will get back to you shortly 🙂
hugs,
o and om.
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Thank you, O! Much appreciated.
Hugs in return!
Michael
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Oh god that’s beautiful. The ‘real’ world no longer holds water. Brilliant birds of flame flying out of the sun. Wooohooo! I’ll never look at the sun in the same way again 🙂
Who needs dollars, there’s no way to put the lid back on. I wish I didn’t keep forgetting.
Alison xox
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Thank you, Alison… I wish I didn’t keep finding those dollars tucked away in tin cans and coat pockets, too. That the giving was complete… But truly it is… We’re simply living in the slow motion instant replay of it all! I love when our view of the world changes and can never be the same again, and we take one step closer to Everything…
Peace
Michael
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Though I didn’t completely understand what was going on, the images gave me chills. I appreciated the explanation which gave me a more joyful understanding. I should have known. I always enjoy your adventures with Hafiz.
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Hi JoAnne,
Thank you for this note… Brad has been hounding me for the cliff notes, and I’m always open to giving explanations to repair the messes I’ve made of the pure feelings…! I am glad you caught hold of it… These feelings have wings, and they carry us…
Blessings
Michael
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A vessel losing the dry land while gaining the ocean- I’m imagining the ceremony for setting off as a cutting of the last shimmery ribbons with jewel studded scissors, seems the last threads of holding on – maybe a bottle of champagne smashed on the bow filling the air with bubbles? – one more bet, double or nothing before you go?
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Ha! I love your image here, M. I’m thinking purple sequined tuxedos, one of those rainbow whigs Hafiz had on the other day, and absolutely the jewel studded scissors. It is such a paradox that giving up our own interpretations and expertise on the subject of reality creates room for such beautiful realizations to emerge. Yes, double or nothing! Take all of it…!
Thinking of your post about swabbing the decks as we steam away from this port,
Michael
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I don’t know if it was writing this reply to you or not, but my death dreams returned last night and I woke up frantic as Eden was on a ferry ship that capsized and quickly sunk in a big ocean, while I was helpless to rescue her. I am so happy to get back to your wonderful imagery. I feel the squeezing within ease when your Hafiz squeezes his bicycle horn at me 🙂
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I love this bicycle horn ease, M. This imagery sounds like a mixed blessing, and I do hope your underwater breathing takes over naturally in the next one… And Hafiz rings the bell on the handlebars of his one-man submarine as he swishes past… 🙂
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“Mystical ” …I love Hariods comment above …” the Suns innermost wizard ” and those messenger falgons you know fly above the land near me too , ” chirping amen ” …Yes , dear friend , Amen ! … And praise to your soaring heart my dear friend …love , megxxx
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Thank you, Meg! Yes, I thought of you when the falcons arrived… Our hearts all soar together as they jettison their baggage of uncertainty…
Peace,
Michael
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Simply beautiful and radiant, Michael. I love the line “This is how it is now.”
Yes, that is how. Peace, Harlon
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Peace to you, too, Harlon. Thank you, friend. It is how it is, and as we find ourselves attending to it, it becomes something else altogether… Hope you have an enjoyable Sunday afternoon.
Michael
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I believe your poem is prophetic.
It’s the last chance café here on earth, become aware now… while you still have a chance, time is running out, the earth is in the emergency room of the hospital and it’s looking like the condition is terminal, unless, we collectively make peace on earth a reality.
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Hi Genie,
Thank you for your note here. I do so deeply hope the peace that is sought may be found. I have given up on speculating on the big pictures these past few years, and placed my trust in what will be. It requires all of my energy these days to bring attention and compassion to the tiny circle of my own life, but I do take solace in the fact that we are all in this together, and that in togetherness there lies something splendid. Whether we pull it out of our hat or not, I do not know. I simply know it is in there, and will one day be all we have left…
Blessings, my friend–
Michael
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Lots of magical creatures poking through your sky of late, and I truly think they are not a product of writer’s creative license, but instead a phenomena observed by eyes that can See, and a mind that can translate, even if just for a moment. I love these moments, and I have found if I don’t write about them, I tend to lose them. So thank you for chronicling the Mystery with such prose.
Sometimes being a weirdo romantic sky gazer can be so rewarding…
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Hi Andrea,
I like the idea that these are translations, for that is how they feel. How to explain these images that come? It’s never exactly easy to put something down. You don’t know what it will be, only what you can see from the beginning. You speak to it, and then… something else appears. It is absolutely reassuring to connect with weirdo romantic sky gazers from time to time. Kind of cleanses the soul’s palate. And it’s helpful to know we share in these raised-eyebrow stare-downs with Creation. You, I know, have told the sky on occasion you’d like to speak with its Manager… And the sea spoke back in reply…
Peace!
Michael
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There are many now who are down to their last dollar Michael and many who have nothing in their pockets but the clothes they stand in..
Your verse “There’s no way to put the lid back on, because this morning’s world no longer holds water,”…
What is happening now with the migrants and refugees come to mind.. as we have to come together in a new world one where we no longer divide by religion or country .. I feel I am reminded more of the Phoenix rising.. And hold hope for Unity Consciousness x
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Yes, Sue, it certainly can feel as though something is broken that will not be mended. There have been so many opportunities for tenderness missed, and so many offerings of reconciliation thrown back into the sea. But also so many taken. So many moments of coming clean. I tend to think of Love as being like a GPS system that is constantly re-routing. We wonder if a route will remain open or not, but I’ve given up on thinking we’ll lose the way completely. It’s simply not the nature of existence to fall apart entirely. To fall apart, yes. To fall apart without rising anew, no… I think the question is simply which route we will take– how much suffering we will endure. What is needed is all around us, hanging like fruit from the orchards all around us, ready to be plucked from the sky and acknowledged… I hold out great hope for unity consciousness, too, for that is all we’ll have left, when the last dollar is gone… 🙂
Peace
Michael
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Yes my sentiments exactly.. in the “so many opportunities for tenderness missed,”,, I agree… Love the analogy of the GPS system .. No it will not fall apart completely.. But it will shake us to the core… Out of which the Phoenix will rise.. We are only just seeing the flexing of wings at the moment.. .. And I agree Michael.. How much suffering will we endure.. It seems many can sit by and watch others and not blink an eye.. It may be another story when the reality of the rest of the world affects our own ways of being… We can only send out our love and hope others wake up to themselves..
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Your post like Genie says is almost prophetic .. 🙂
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