The hawk sits tired
On a post; ruffled feathers
Sometimes too much wind
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 05/24/13

The flame of compassion
Is started by generosity
Borne in our own experience of need
Kept alight by
The wind of desire
To be better than we are

A fire shared among people
Who, together, become
A towering blaze
Of life giving warmth in the world

(inspired by Piero Ferrucci, “The Power of Kindness”)

<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/01/13

By way of a chance
Hidden quality is born
Showing reality
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/10/13

I have a daily dose
Of pain and heartache
Shared and passed on

Life is not pain and sorrow
Life has pain and sorrow
Life is not goodness and happiness
Life has goodness and happiness

Pain and goodness
Sorrow and happiness
Are caused by attachments
Hanging memories on our being

I have a daily dose
Of compassion and wonderment
Shared and passed on

Random acts of kindness
Senseless bouts of cruelty
Daily struggles
And nightly dreams
Such are the things of life
Hanging memories on our being
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/14/13

A haiku lover’s
Watch only has the numbers
Five and seven there
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/23/13

Pronunciation
Intelligibility
Articulation
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/24/13

Love is a spite.
Its devotion knows no bounds;
Neither high nor low.
Love is an integration of souls.
Love is an interminable commitment of fidelity.
Love pushes all our buttons and expects us to reset them
So they can be pushed again.

Love is a spite with a certainty
that no matter how much
of your hurt and sadness and frustration is expressed as anger,
No matter what, it holds on to me and you, and you and me.
Nobody told us it would be exactly like this,
But they sure told us it would be a journey.
We heard “for better or for worse” our whole lives.
And lo and behold they both happened again and again.

Love has the spite to prove to you that
I’ll hold on to you no matter what.
Love is just stubborn that way.
Love is never violent. It never hurts for hurting sake.
Love never destroys itself nor the other person.

Love can be unkind at times
Because love trusts in its reciprocity
That hurt and sadness can be overcome in its very being.
My love is my love in spite of myself after all this time.
The love I receive in return is the same,
Full, complete, complex and in spite of it all.

I love you in spite of myself.
I love you in spite of yourself.
There is a connection deep and unexplainable
Which brings our souls together.
In each of our minds we are committed to the other.
As time goes by the connection is stronger.

The meaning of fidelity is manifest in spite of all that happens.
Our minds and our souls and our lives experiences
Are so intertwined that the two cannot be less than together.
Even if we are apart the connection remains strong and mysterious.
This is what we have made by choice and chance and spite.
If we love in spite of ourselves, and if we take away the spite,
All that is left is the connection of our love.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 05/19/13

Shadows under vines
Shade obvious suffering
For those living there
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 05/16/13

Homeless not hopeless
Chin up day to day despite
Chance and circumstance
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Lives lived in places
Near to all but far away
Looking for relief
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Handful of dollars
Grimy product still needed
If you want nice things
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Welfare office wait
Kindness of humanity
Inadequate dole
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Giving and getting
The stuff of life’s renewal
Given by kind hands
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

How do we sustain
The good of each person seen?
Respect and kindness

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Two blue butterflies
On a beautiful blue bridge
being butterflies
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 06/05/08

Some grow anywhere
Sun nor cold will belay them
Rosemary and spurge.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 09/07/12

Does God ever apologize?
Is fate ever just?
Is happenstance really chance?
Or does fate drive our circumstance?
If happenstance and fate met along the way
which road would they choose?
<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 05/12/13

An urn rim glows dim

Reminder of light of souls

Leaving space on earth?