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.

Happy Anniversary

Engraved inside my wedding ring is the date "May 28, 1977."

On the cover of the program from our wedding (framed and sitting on the bookshelf in my office) are words from Song of Songs.  "My beloved spoke and said to me, 'Rise up my love and come away.  The winter is past.  The rain is over.  Flowers appear on the earth.  My love belongs to me and I to him.'"

And from my book, my words when thinking of the love of my life...

Lost

Today I lost something precious.
When I had the urge to hug,
I let is pass unfulfilled.
When I could have smiled,
I looked inward and resisted.
When I could have listened,
I allowed busyness to steal me away.
I can live with that,
I do each day, with the hope
of a tomorrow more filled with love.
But what I cannot bear to face,
what stops my heart,
is the thought of losing you.

More on Snakes

Snakes

Sometimes people are like snakes ...
misunderstood,
unappreciated for their beauty and
the important role they play in the world,
shunned,
loathed,
feared,
victims of violence.

Sometimes people are like snakes ...
hoping to be authentic
and trying to live accordingly.

Snakes

At our weekend place in the country again, walking through the woods, I encountered a Black Rat Snake sunning itself in the path.  I spent a few minutes watching it, and then decided to try to walk on the edge of the path around it, but then the snake started making a rattling sound so I changed my mind.  Actually, making this sound is one of the defense mechanisms of this type of harmless snake (harmless unless you are a small rodent that is).

On our property, we have also encountered an Eastern Hog-nosed Snake, which can spread its neck to look like a Cobra.  How fascinating that this harmless snake would mimic the type of venomous snake that is not native to the entire North American continent!

I have also had the privilege of seeing a Red Milk Snake, again harmless, but oh so beautiful.  This snake mimics the potentially deadly Coral Snake, although Coral Snakes are not found in Missouri.

So it occurs to me that sometimes we are like snakes.  We pretend to be something or someone we are not in order to avoid getting hurt.  I come back to a couple of my basic understandings.  First, to encounter love requires becoming vulnerable.  Second, the definition of holiness is authenticity.

More about snakes next time.