Sky
From the window, the sky.
Gray with hints of blue,
A lover's intimacy.
My mind, your mind
We open together
As reflections sublime --
As the secret of pairs of geese
In flight
This afternoon
Anywhere together.
We see the sun break through,
A star gift,
For this blue green dot in space.
The Goldfinch (for Cedar)
The goldfinch is the absolute truth
Of summer and the harvest
Of sunflowers:
Why ask for a deeper realization?
The Light is from the goldfinch:
Even the sunflowers bow...
Storm
Clouds darken from horizon to home:
Squirrels chitter and a lonely crow caws
But the weather is not going to change,
Not tonight.
There are other places
Where storms need to write
An obituary to drought,
But that won't happen tonight.
Let me think,
Are there other thoughts needing words?
Not tonight.
Stretch
You stretch, and lift your leg
Out from beneath the red blanket:
Is this really me here with you?
The incense of my thoughts
Rises to curl around your foot,
And then settles down
Between your thighs:
Is this really me here with you?
The allure of this smoke,
I call it "Jasmine Rain",
Would have me ready for love:
But is this really me here with you?
Li Po
I walk today
As if I will see Li Po
Around some turn on the pathway.
I walk today
As if I will surprise a goldfinch
Flying into my hat.
I walk today
As if my thoughts
Will some how influence the sun and moon.
I walk today
As if the Red Dragon of Kuan Yin
Is the broken secret of every lonely heart.
I walk today,
As I walk everyday,
Expecting your hand to slip into mine.
Silence and Music
There is a silence in everything, just
As there is music. This secret is somewhere
Near the middle between the two...
Silence in the way the sun rises and sets.
Silence in the steady spin of the Earth.
Silence in the tulip pushing up through the last snow.
Music in the grass turning green
And leaf buds just beginning to show.
Music in the tea cup lifting to your lips.
Silence in the ready glance of your eyes
And in the morning show of your breasts.
Silence in the way you bend to start the bath.
I hear the yawn of our dog breaking the silence.
I hear the flow of water into the tub.
I hear you step and sit in the hot water.
Music has a way of touching everything:
Like a warm blanket it can hold and caress.
But like silence, it can also slay the entire Universe.
This is why I can stand now and look at the moon
As one who just might wade through time and space
And rest completely in the heartbeats of God.
-- Robert Daniel Smith
From the window, the sky.
Gray with hints of blue,
A lover's intimacy.
My mind, your mind
We open together
As reflections sublime --
As the secret of pairs of geese
In flight
This afternoon
Anywhere together.
We see the sun break through,
A star gift,
For this blue green dot in space.
The Goldfinch (for Cedar)
The goldfinch is the absolute truth
Of summer and the harvest
Of sunflowers:
Why ask for a deeper realization?
The Light is from the goldfinch:
Even the sunflowers bow...
Storm
Clouds darken from horizon to home:
Squirrels chitter and a lonely crow caws
But the weather is not going to change,
Not tonight.
There are other places
Where storms need to write
An obituary to drought,
But that won't happen tonight.
Let me think,
Are there other thoughts needing words?
Not tonight.
Stretch
You stretch, and lift your leg
Out from beneath the red blanket:
Is this really me here with you?
The incense of my thoughts
Rises to curl around your foot,
And then settles down
Between your thighs:
Is this really me here with you?
The allure of this smoke,
I call it "Jasmine Rain",
Would have me ready for love:
But is this really me here with you?
Li Po
I walk today
As if I will see Li Po
Around some turn on the pathway.
I walk today
As if I will surprise a goldfinch
Flying into my hat.
I walk today
As if my thoughts
Will some how influence the sun and moon.
I walk today
As if the Red Dragon of Kuan Yin
Is the broken secret of every lonely heart.
I walk today,
As I walk everyday,
Expecting your hand to slip into mine.
Silence and Music
There is a silence in everything, just
As there is music. This secret is somewhere
Near the middle between the two...
Silence in the way the sun rises and sets.
Silence in the steady spin of the Earth.
Silence in the tulip pushing up through the last snow.
Music in the grass turning green
And leaf buds just beginning to show.
Music in the tea cup lifting to your lips.
Silence in the ready glance of your eyes
And in the morning show of your breasts.
Silence in the way you bend to start the bath.
I hear the yawn of our dog breaking the silence.
I hear the flow of water into the tub.
I hear you step and sit in the hot water.
Music has a way of touching everything:
Like a warm blanket it can hold and caress.
But like silence, it can also slay the entire Universe.
This is why I can stand now and look at the moon
As one who just might wade through time and space
And rest completely in the heartbeats of God.
-- Robert Daniel Smith