Retreat

My retreat starts tomorrow.  Here is a poem I find fitting.

FOR THREE DAYS

Not many teachers in this world

Can give you as much enlightenment

In one year

As sitting all alone, for three days,

In your closet

Would

Do.

That means not leaving.

Better get a friend to help with

A few sandwiches

And

The chamber

Pot.

And no reading in there or writing poems,

That would be cheating:

Aim high - for a 360 degree

Detox.

This sitting alone, though, is

Not recommended

If you are normally

Sedated

Or have ever been under a doctor's

Surveillance because of your

Brain.

Dear one,

Don't let Hafiz fool you-

A ruby is buried

Here.

From The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master, translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

Anticipation of Retreat

In about a week, I will go on a week-long silent retreat.  The following poem came to me.

Anticipation of Retreat

Take nothing to read,
No journal or pen,
Slow
D
O
W
N
To the point of no motion,
The absolute zero of the soul
Attentive
Patient
Prolonged
Listening

And welcome whatever happens,
even if whatever feels like nothing.

And forget what you thought
you knew - all of it.

And welcome God,
as God wishes to be
with you.

Italy

Just returned from a trip to Italy with my wife and daughter.  Visited Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast and Paestum.

When in Rome...eat!

The best part of the trip was the laughter - which cannot be captured with images or words.

Prego.

Cicadas

Cicadas

She enjoys knocking them to the ground
and crushing their bodies underfoot.
She delights in spraying the hose
on a tree where they've clustered,
"Fly buggers, take that!"
Screeching, screaming, swarming,
raucous, rumpus, creeps her out.
Don't you just hate when you feel one crawling
up your neck ten minutes after coming inside -
one hitched a ride on the back of your shirt?

He greets them.
Amazed at how loudly one can sing,
he welcomes their chorus.
"Sit closer," he says,
"that I may marvel at your beauty."
Rich black, orange and shimmering.
A testament to God's perfect timing
and the rhythm and perseverance of nature.

She has difficulty seeing the little critters
as a sign of a healthy ecosystem.
He has difficulty seeing that
she simply doesn't like bugs.