A Return to Eden (Another Book)
These shoes have walked endless miles.
‘Terrains’ of old stories
words after words
—weave around curves
—climb mountain tops
—cleave through barren lands
—wander through cities
—reach one sea to another
connecting shores
—harbor in towns
—stumble among the displaced.
In gratitude, I whisper.
Your footsteps are formed alongside mine
through the Hebrew Scriptures
and then through The New Testament.
Now is the time for another story.
Perhaps it is ALREADY being
written yet NOT filling any
sheets of parchment at this time—
or is it?
This moment, Present
hollows a dawning
where old wine can no longer
pour itself into New wine skins.
Life is bursting—
it has always been birthing
with life every single day.
—It sings a song
—Life ‘gathers’ a chorus
NOT creating another religion.
Inside—
a HARMONY beats
born again in the heart space—
in the core of the transformed mind
that has the clarity to
speak with a vision
beyond the human eye’s gaze
yet, a gaze
that sees and bears
witness that NOTHING
can be accomplished until
we rise in LOVE.
Until we look in the mirror
of our’selves’
seeing more clearly what
we dislike in another is at the center of our own being.
With ripened awareness
we reach out to our enemies
joining hands.
If they do not reach
back, we forgive.
We press forward
returning to the garden
lush, abundant, flowing
in every direction.
We see the sun
in and upon ALL gathered.
Everyone has a right to
eat, to be warm, to be sheltered,
to be ‘equal.’
No gender claims superiority
over another.
Violence does not dwell
here. There are no clubs
or swords, no weapons
to dismantle what has been
‘gifted’ to us—
to dwell in and serve.
We are to serve each other.
Yes, the scraps from so many
tables tossed into garbage
or into our flourishing seas…
Oh, the millions that could be fed.
Returning to the garden
we witness all we have
to share.
It is our task to share with
those who have nothing
to bring them to this garden
where they are no longer
terrorized physically, mentally,
emotionally AND most
significantly spiritually.
In the name of whatever
you call/or do not call God,
in this garden
Om is echoed.
I AM is a treasure
‘breathing’ in ALL.
If we do not act
in kindness,
THIS garden will re-create
itself.
She has born many pains.
In chaos, this garden
springs to life again & again.
In calm, she holds fast
inviting us to reap
what we sow.
This garden does not
have a fence.
No signs are posted
expressing that only the JUST
are welcomed.
Enough bloodshed
has seeped into the Garden’s soils
AND
She nurses her ground
holding her children…
—they are her roots
—we are her branches
The tree of life
in the center of this garden
extends into the Universe
—expanding the galaxies
—lighting new paths of consciousness
In all this UNKNOWING,
we live.
ALIVE in the graces of wonder,
we are gifted to ‘breathe’
each day.
Our ending always seems
to bring us back to a beginning
The ‘creators’ time is at hand—
paint, weave, write—
sing, explore new depths,
draw, click your camera
FOLLOW
We are the communion of saints
Past and Present.
Let us return to the garden
we truly have never left.
“Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things.
Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature—even a caterpillar
I would never have to prepare a sermon.
So full of God is every creature.”
—Meister Eckhart