Thursday, 19 May 2016

Laughing birth tumble

I am birthing myself
Deep in the forest
Where you can't find me

Where the birdsong
Drowns out your rigid lines
Designed to trap me
Into submission.

Where the air I breathe is the air breathed by generations before me,
And the land I walk upon is the welcome arms of mother earth

For no man can tell me more about myself than I know already

May the wise and gentle humour
That knows this to be true
Laugh lovingly, from the bowels of the earth,
Resounding from the mountains
Embracing all in it

As we tumble into the world together

New in each other's arms
Birdsong

Retreat
Safety
Depth
Longing
Home-coming

Received by the Mother
In laughing, loving, gentleness.

Wednesday, 18 May 2016

My friend Andy

My friend Andy, has chosen to die
He's come to the end of the track,
He's voted with his feet
He's not found what he needs in our world.

I selfishly imagined he'd just be there for evermore,
Chugging along like the rest of us
Bump into every now and again
With a shared past, shared memories,
Smile and a hug, on our way

But he won't be there anymore
For reasons best known to him
And partly known by all of us who ever knew him
He won't be there anymore

No shared memories to make
No shared future except through my own filter
And any cosmic link I might be able to make space for.

Can I go to the funeral?
Who would I be going for?
How am I going to go?
What space can I make
To remember a man, to touch in with the loss felt,
The responsibility shared,
The vibe we can all learn from,

Do I just carry on with what I see in moments as my struggle
That holds little of what I yearn for
And yet everything I am here to experience?

Do I continue to juggle the balls
Balance the many
Negotiate the tramlines of life
Day after day
And when an out-of-the-ordinary happening happens
I keep my head down and forge forwards?

Afraid to look at what it means
Afraid to allow the answers and gifts it may offer
In its tragedy

Well hopefully I won't
Hopefully I might rise out of this and allow myself to
Connect with our lost friend
And through him,
Connect with myself again.