After the Snow - A Prayer for City Services

Oh, the snow did fall
Mother Nature, Winter
A thicker blanket of snow upon the ground
Pray for those that Plow our Streets,
Police and Emergency Vehicles

Watch over them as they do there job
Clearing our streets and watching over
Their fellow Humankind.
Sometimes needing to rush flying
Toward a Hospital.
Or helping someone to a Shelter.


Watch over them
The roads slick with icy
When most of us are home
Work having closed early, no work at all
Out there in the world, watching over us.

Pray for them, as they watch through
The night,
Lights flashing like some distant star
Doing their best to clear the streets
Of snow, piled high.

Watch over and keep them safe
We thank you Mother Nature, Winter, Creator God
Watch over them as they watch over us.

To pray is to laugh,

“To pray is to laugh, whistle on happy feet, sing, shout and jump higher than ever before. But it is also to whisper, wonder and stumble in dark places, cry, scream or just hold a tired head in tired hands and wait…Prayer is our tired reaching out to the one who holds us closer and loves us more than we would dare imagine.” Greta Schrumm

I have to say I could not say it better. Thank you AMW for sharing this with me.

Dear Creator Spirit-
Come laugh and sing with me today
Come sit with me in my sorrow today
Come be with me and guide me through another day
Thank you Creator Spirit for you love!

Might we Pray

Today, at the end of my day-
I thought -"Goodness, I have not thought about our President and his family"
If I/we don't think/pray of their safe keeping in the hands of a Greater Being
Then how is it I ask myself-
Can they keep me/us in their thoughts?

I have come to realize that indeed
Each day we need, desire to pray!
Have conversation with that, that is greater then ourselves.
In a loose translation of the Lakota - "That which moves all that which moves"
To say and speak what is in our hearts.
Then to listen - wait and truly listen.
For it is in the quite that we might hear.

The waking of a dream.
The early hours of dawn that call to us.
Perhaps the late nights we lay next to the love of our heart.
Watching those we love as they sleep- safely under our gaze.

Oh, yes Great Creator
This night I beg you,
Keep our new President, Mr. Obama and his family
Wrapped safely~ that the courage and fortitude that helped place him in the White House
May come to the fruition that is a Vision for a brighter tomorrow.
Not for us of the United States alone,
Yet, also for the greater good of Humankind.
This night I will light a candle
In your name Oh, Great Creator.
Hold also those dear to my heart
Close at hand.
As I learn each day to abide in you.

Thank you Great Creator
May you sleep well
As I bid you, Good Night!

Praise Song for the Day, by Elizabeth Alexander

Praise Song for the Day

by Elizabeth Alexander
A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.
We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what's on the other side.
I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.
Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.

Happy Birthday Prayer

Great Creator Spirit-
Thank you for this day.
This wonderful gift of LIFE.
Thank you
Happy Birthday to ME!
Thank you Creator Spirit
This day this wonderful gift.
Thank you.
Grateful for your belief in me.
For your guiding hands
The spark of light that is you
And is me.
Thank you Creator Spirit
For today, another day at Life.
Happy, Happy Birthday to me!

Karma

Karma is not fatalistic or predetermined. Karma means our ability to create and to change. It is creative because we can determine how and why we act. We can change. The future is in our hands, and in the hands of our heart.
Buddha said:
Karma creates all, like an artist,
Karma composes, like a dancer.

From Rigpa – Glimpse of the Day


I like this, it gives me the idea that my life is not predetermined by events in some past life- one I have only fleeting memories of running under my skin. This view says, be born again into the world, lessons still at hand to learn. You/I can become more then you or I thought could happen. Given the time we will dance and create Ourselves to our liking.

Great Creator Spirit - I thank you for this gift of Today.

Blessed are Friends

Oh, sweet friends

Blessed am I

For I have You in my life.

It is an Amazing thing to me

You are a friend.

You listen as I ramble,

Hold and comfort me when I'm in need.

Given the opportunity we'll have an argument or two~

You still like and love me!

Blessed are you, my friend;

For I am the same for YOU.

A Happiness it makes of me

WE are friends.

Blessed are Friends.

photo from a friends collection -thank you Chris Davis

Work of Hands and Heart

Creator Spirit,
Make me an instrument of good deeds.
Let my Hands and Heart
Be guided, not by me but by what lies before me.
Let my Heart fill with Gratefulness,
As my hands prepare food, that will nourish myself and others.
My hands come together in Joy,
At the opportunity to create "Art" in any given moment.
Bless and guide my Hands and Heart
When I must comfort a Friend in Sorrow.
Creator Spirit,
Guide the work of Hands and Heart
That I may share with others the Love
I receive each day.
Bless you Creator Spirit,
With all that I have, and all that I am.
I am grateful for the work of my Hands and Heart.

Newest Travel Plans - a Tribute to Stephen C. Lesneski 1951-2009

We all knew that you were getting ready
To head on to a new destination.
You always the adventurer,
Always on the move.
Sailing, climbing, running, biking
Sometimes slowing to a walk.
A new place, person to meet.
Stories to listen to, ones to share.
Arms open to the Adventure.
This one, you weren't sure.
Were thinking - you'd like to postpone.

You asked me once what I knew
My reply satisfied - I couldn't remember the last time I'd been.
You said you weren't ready to say you were going.

The last time I saw you,
A couple of days before, Paul came in.
We talked a little.
He asked if I had Siblings
I do - did you know that?
I'm not sure how much about me I shared.
More important it seemed to know You.
You were moving on from the moment we met.
August 2008 - not so long ago.
I am hoping that knowing me helped you.
My hands easing some of the sadness.

It snowed heavy the day you decided to leave
Off on that Journey
The ferry man's money in your palm.
May the winds you have be warm, following seas to take you Home.
Perhaps, you'll send a whisper or two of the place you are.
Travel well, my friend. Travel well.
Till next our paths do cross.

Migraine - is it possible to find the beauty?

I wake with a Migraine,
The train that is running is shaking my body
The lights - one might as well be on acid.
Which has long ago left my things to do list.

A migraine, and I am wondering as the day
Has dragged on brutally
Unable to eat, barely move
Could I - can I find some beauty here?

Something to be thankful for?
A little Gratitude?
No, there are times that we will -
Okay I will speak only for me
There are times when I can't seem to find the beauty
The Gratefulness that I wish I could.

My body aches, my head pounds
A beautiful winter day that is WAY to bright
I hide inside, not only in my space, but in my Space
Finding the quite.
Beauty - it has been a long time since,
I have been assailed by one of these.
Grateful indeed for that!
Is there beauty in suffering?
I'm not so sure.

Breathe, I remind myself.
For there in does lay a trick- a beauty!
Breath - the Divine nature - a name
An exhalation and release.
Lost an entire day
A sadness
Yet, I am alive.
A ship's bell rings softly-
I am grateful today for this gentle one.
Alive, I can feel.
There too is a beauty!
How many of us choose not to feel,
To shut our emotions down.
No pain - no gain - ha, I dislike this line.
No laughter - no gain
Living is both, sorrow, pain - laughter and Hope.
I will continue this breath
Hold on to - then exhale what I do not need.

I will say Thank you for this small unnerving Migraine
That today reminds me of how far a journey I have travelled.
How much love I share in the world.
How absolutely Peace full it was outside my bedroom window
In the middle of the city, on a very busy street.
I will long for a snow fall -
To be able to hear it's song.
To feel the Divine!
Yes, I suppose one could find beauty-
It invites us to be alive.

I will wait for tomorrow
A new day, filled with new possibilities.
I will gently slap my face and say
"It's show time."
Tomorrow will become today.

The Symptoms of Inner Peace by Saskia Davis

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great manyhave already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that peopleeverywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could posea serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition ofconflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:
* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

* A loss of interest in judging other people.

* A loss of interest in judging self.

* A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

* A loss of interest in conflict.

* A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)

* Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

* Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

* Frequent attacks of smiling.

* An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as an uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING: If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that yourcondition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to not be curable. If youare exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these symptoms, remain exposed onlyat your own risk.

Gentle Hands

Divine Creator,
Thank you for Hands
My hands, strong,
Knotted and well used.
Divine Creator
I ask that you bring more hands
That are kind, hands that hold other hands.
Gentle hands, ones that know how to soothe a hurt,
mend a button.
Kind hands.
Bring another's hands to their lips to kiss.
Hands that are knowing, that speak;
No word do we hear.
Hands that belong to mothers and fathers
Sisters and brothers, friend's hands
Divine Creator,
I am most grateful for my hands!
Invite to the world more
Hands that make love and art and kindness
Hands that can sit quiet in another's
Hands that know what Peace means and feels like.
Hands that can tie a knot, mend a fence, bake a cookie.
Divine Creator,
Thank you for the gift of my strong, knotted, used hands.
My beautiful hands.

Blessings to the Midwives of Passing

Tonight I stand in Awe. Usually we use the term Mid-wife for those helping bring Life IN TO the world. Yet is not our passing also that of being birthed? Birthed Home to the Divine?

photo-T.Giffin

To the Midwives at all Hospices
Tonight I have a desire to send Blessings
To the Workers at Gosnell Hospice House in Scarborough, ME

I am so Grateful that you can be with my friend.
For I am unable to sit with him everyday.
Knowing you are there; that he is not Alone.

Watching him open his eyes wide to take you in,
Clearly taking in, who held his hand, his head.
The patience you showed to him, his family and me- a friend
NO family connection, you treat me with respect
You treat my friend with RESPECT, as he labours.

You let him smell your arm,
his sense of smell heightened as he prepares to move on.
He knows us by our smells, the subtle shift of air we bring with us.
I'm not sure he can see us as well any more.
Or comprehend all that we are asking or telling him.

Yes, he labours, not sure he's done all that he wants.
Labours to understand the change in his body.
The feel of his own skin.
Is it night or morning?
It is hard to tell- he's not been outside in a while

Sleeping he labours.
He labours to birth himself to the Divine
He labours it is a difficult time for him.
Living in a body he no longer knows.

Blessings to you,
Your Patience, your Kindness, your Respect.
I know it's your job, but it is a choice you have made
To sit with the dieing.


Thank you for being with my friend.
Thank you for this House, that allows his passing with Dignity.

I don't know how much longer he has,
Only he and the Divine know for sure,
How much longer you will see me
And I you.

I want you to know I am Grateful for your Presence.
Thank you for the choice you have made to be a
Mid-wife to the Dieing.
Bright Blessings to you.

Gratitude

Thank you, Universe for gifting me with Today!
Another day to laugh with friends, cry at the injustices of the day.
And by the end of the day - a chance to say I love you to a few, smile at a lot,
even hug a few.
Thank you, for this day that is only yet unfolding...
Thank you!
One moment at a time!
Thank you!

Walk with me

Great Creator, I ask for your help today
Walk with me as you do each day, speak to my heart.
Help and guide me.
There are days I find I feel unworthy of your Love.
Great Creator, I ask for your help today
When I walk with you I know that I am not alone.
Great Creator, I ask for your help today,

It is what I can do.

photo - A. Crawford, an amazing person!

Poem-by Judi Neri

May the peace tents flower

May the peace tents flower throughout the land
May they cover it
leaving only room for gardens
and orchards and vineyards
and places where children play together
May there be much swinging on swings
and ball-playing and flying of kites
And may the parents teach the children
how to build peace tents
and the children teach the parents
how peace is simple
just you and me
swinging on swings together
and growing the fruits of our gardens
O may the peace tents flower -
O God of life, please -
Judi Neri

Blessing the New Year 2009

Oh, sweet beginning of a New Year
I pray to you, "That which moves all that which moves"
Bless me with an Openness of Heart.
That I may be Kinder, more Understanding.
With this open Heart, I long to know truth.
Bless me with Openness of Sight.
That I may be able to see things as they Are.
Not as I desire them to be.
Bless me with Openness of Touch
That I may hold my fellow travelers in their Sorrows and Happiness.
Bless me with Openness of Voice and Speech
That I may sing praises to you.
That I may also cry out at the injustices in the world - speaking Truth.

I thank you, "That which moves all that which moves"
For this Year to come and also for the gifts of learning of this year gone past.
I thank you for the Blessings you have given.
I ask your forgiveness for the times I may have not shown Gratitude.
I thank you for the Rising Sun, that offers a marking of each new day.
I thank you for the Darkness filled with Moon and the Stars, that I may rest.
I offer to sing to you each day of both my small Sorrows and my little Happinesses,
That you will hold me in your Eyes and Heart.

I wish to thank you, "That which moves all that which moves"
For each new day yet to be, for Friends, for the Life, I have been gifted.
For prayers that have yet to cross my lips.
For having the time to hear my words.
I Thank you for Being.
I Thank you for Walking with me, that I know I am not alone.
I Thank you for this New Year, this Year 2009.
May I prove myself worthy.
Thank you, "That which moves all that which moves"