First Day

Light
Within
All people
The touch of love
Descending on all from the source above

Reverie

Songs
We sang
Together
I remember
Even as the fire fades to an ember

On the Forest Floor

Orchids are scattered
At the base of the redwood
Darkness is shattered

Shelter

On this quiet night
Under the moon's silver light
People are dreaming

As Devas offer guidance
In the silence of a glance

A possum freezes
In the headlights of a car
That brakes just in time

"It makes a big difference,
All that new insulation."

While folding laundry
She makes plans for tomorrow
And for next week

"I'm sorry you can't make it.
That's OK. Another time."

For him it's a song,
Even afer all these years,
The sound of her voice

Mingling with a steady wind
And the falling plum blossoms

Starlings are in flight
During the long, slow sunset
Clouds of red and gold

She begins her second job,
The bills just keep coming in

The weather report:
At least five more days of heat
And no rain in sight

In an abandoned building
A runaway finds a home

Relativity

Life
Is brief
And it's long
Moments linger
Dawn

Land's End

Petals on the stream
That's now unfrozen
Suddenly wider
Sunset and ocean

The Pulse of the Poem

How to read a Chinese poem --
Find the pulse beneath the words,
The current that gives them life,
In this way the poem is heard.