Directness: What’s What

Lying flat on the bed,
Back of the head on a pillow,
Knees bent and up,
Right leg crossed over left,
Feeling whole,

All divisions broken
And everything is.
Such comfort and peace,
Never before and always
This way;

Wanting to be pleased
And silly all at once,
To take everything seriously
And to laugh hilariously
At what I see,

What it is to be,
In this reality,
Which is here in this room,
Everywhere
But so subtle;

Difficult to see
And impossible to avoid,
The void
And ordinary things
Like walls and ceilings,

Sitting at the keyboard
Reflecting on the keys,
Feeling the fingers
And watching them type
Each verse,

Words on the page
And spaces in between the letters
Making the phrases
But from whence comes the meaning?

Diligent: Tending the Fire

Mega metta,
Monumental exertion,
Intentional identification
With loving-kindness awareness;

Energetically repeating
Well-wishing phrases
And observing the upwelling
Of peace and receptivity;

Except, what’s this?
Anger fiercely arising,
Far too strong to be ignored,
It shrouds the horizon,

And so, turning towards the physical sensations
And investigating this disturbance,
Experienced as intense tingling and inner blackness
Deep inside the center of the chest;

But, is that all? What a relief!
‘Tis only a sensational surge,
Just a little bird flapping about,
Exercising its tiny wings

And as gradually the agitated avian settles,
Attention inclines towards awareness itself,
Observing the kindness growing within it
And back to metta the focus goes,

Savouring the glowing warmth,
Glorying in the light of the growing blaze,
Marveling at the miracle
That simple sustained effort can generate such well being.

Slowly comfort diffuses through,
Cooling into a tranquil state,
A stable calm,
A well of ease upon which to draw
Whenever the restless sparrow stirs within the heart.

Diligence: Facing

From one extreme
To another,
Bright light beams
And darkness uncovers

But what lies below?
Or is that just
A way of talking?
How can there be an inner direction?

Best to drop the metaphors, perhaps
But how to write this down
In simple words and phrases?
This is what puzzles and dazes;

Don’t want to fall
Back into the pit,
Have to keep making effort
Through the night;

Sense of foreboding re-occurs,
Have to let go
And continue my work,
No time to desert;

Inclining the mind
In a skillful direction,
Engaging the will
And facing the storm;

I will not be yielding
To this negative wave
But examine it closely
And find the spirit within it,

I refuse to get spooked
By strong feeling,
As it’s only a natural process,
A regular happening.