Contemplatively Sweet: Slow Down Poems to Ponder
Poetry By Charles C. Finn
Travel light years through space
and never find God--
conceived, that is, as somewhere out there.
Moving beyond spatial notion to grounded experience
marks religion's maturing.
No where equals now here.
Meet the moment that greets you
and find God.
There is only Tao.
My wave in the flow is perfect,
my unique wave fed by ten thousand unique waves
in this moment of universal convergence
is perfect.
A Taoist view to widen the road,
to open the way and lighten the load.
.
Enough To Give Me Pause
If I have to keep breathing to keep existing,
then air must be part of my identity,
my "I am" must transcend my skin
to include the very atmosphere.
But then what about the sun I'm warmed by,
Earth I stand on,
plants and flesh I eat,
humans without whose love I couldn't live?
Are not all integral to my being,
of necessity included when I say "I am"?
Maybe there's only one great I AM
the immortal divinity of which each mortal thing incarnates.
It's enough to give me pause
when I pause to take a breath
and say "I am."
When Up Against It
When up against it
the child within rues rotten luck,
fears collapse,
yearns escape;
the adult within resists panic,
explores options,
plans action;
the spirit-warrior within greets destiny,
trusts opportunity underlies crisis,
taps resources (more than meet eye) ever at hand.
Either Way Something of Spirit
When retrospective gaze
spies sense in hitherto presumed nonsense
of blind alley or dark valley,
the exhilarating conclusion has it
that either something of Spirt sends by design
even blind alleys and dark valleys
or something of Spirit resides spiderlike within
weaving flimsy chance strands
into a web of exquisite meaning.
For Either Dignity or Drama
Each moment lived roundly
makes a difference to God,
leaves a memory in God,
becomes transparent of God.
It's nice not having to leave the moment
for either dignity or drama.
It's hard enough when focusing on each individual pressure,
it's overwhelming when adding them up.
Reason to a point can help
by calmly counseling realistic asessment,
then one step at a time.
But calm counsel falls short in the extremities
where spirit-grounding alone holds firm,
sees through.
Spirituality remembers context,
reminds it's not just isolated ego versus the world
but Soul of the universe indwelling your own
reassuring with thundering whisper:
"Fear not, child of light,
one step at a time but never alone."
Portal of the Moment
I've been rising to this moment
all my life.
This moment has been rising to me
since the Original Light.
The entire sweep of the extravagant universe
rises through the portal of this threshold moment
to its only future.
Mystics know it,
poets sing it,
flowers and cats, mountains and trees,
live it.
Voice of fear: I can't do it,
let me hide somewhere away.
Voice of reason: I'm as capabale as the next person,
I just might do it.
Voice of spirit: Alone I can do little, but I am not alone!
Here I am, send me.
