Awakening sense

love's labors

When there's real remembrance,
Doesn't everything experienced, no matter what, become a gift?

Is there a way to be grateful for life's pains,
Rather than thirsting for escape through spiritual flights?

Perhaps our pleasures and difficulties contain secrets,
That could be squeezed out like wine from grapes.

Then we could enjoy all our labors of love,
Sensing a fragrance that leads to the Beloved's garden.

shedding time

What is it to surrender self to Self,
But a process of exposure, of nakedness?

Though we may be drawn by Truth,
Might not the false in us try to cover up and hide?

Though we may be drawn by Love itself,
Might not our self-absorbed parts fear and tremble?

Maybe it's worth a try submitting to this self-shedding,
For we might really gain by losing what we never truly had.

cattle drive

Why all the meditation, remembrance or focus on Self,
But to rouse and focus the spirit within?

How would the glitter of attractions and distractions not dim,
With the increasing pull of awakening's urge?

Then distorted images of ourselves get herded together,
On that fateful cattle drive to the slaughter.

All the while songs of lament and joy are sung,
About longing to long for the path to the Beloved.

spiritual newbies

The superstructure of who we think we are gets dismantled bit by bit,
Though it's a loss many feel they can't afford.

Many desperately resist such change,
Shoring up their reserves at any cost.

Some substitute loss with spiritual sensationalism.
A dead giveaway of aspiring newbies.

But why not watch your life's parade wind down,
Feeling gratitude the Beloved's presence is at hand?