Haikus

Anticipation
distracts me from the present.
This moment, sunny.

Finding the center
of my busy seeking mind
must come back to breath.

Checking in, with heart~
Life can't be about the lists.
What inspires me now?

What I learn from my daughter

She is the gentle one
Who sometimes wishes she were a cat.

I want to tell her everything I have learned,
And she patiently listens
While I boisterously share.
She already knows more than I do,
But she would never say so.

The generosity of my daughter
Reminds me to pay attention
To what I’m really doing
When I “parent”~

Am I guiding? Comforting? Deciphering?
Is motherhood more about vulnerability
Than it is about strength?

When she was younger, my mission was clear:
Prepare her for the world.
But now the world does not seem
So easily defined.
How do I prepare her to live
Firmly planted in her own heart,
While journeying near and far?

How do I help her create a map
That will guide her way?

Prayer brings me back to my own heart,
And the sensitive places that
Ask only for recognition.

I am willing to admit I know little.
Gratitude fills in the gaps.

Haikus

The comforts of home?
Sometimes subtle, sometimes rich.
Centering my world.

To be a mother
Invites me to feel all things
with love at my core.

I embrace marriage
as the ultimate friendship~
joy's experiment.

Within every day
my connections hold the key
to fresh awareness.

Time makes me grateful
for every chance to embrace
and share a good laugh.

News of Others

News of others
changes the weather of my day.

I surrender once again
to the flow of
suggestion~

I no longer play
the "what if" game,
but there are times
when I want to play
the "if only" card~

The suffering of another
becomes real to me
as I consciously reach
toward a shared healing.

What does it mean
to believe in the power of
Love?

If only I really knew.

That is the daily lesson
of letting the news of others
bless me,
challenge me,
invite me to acknowledge our Oneness.

Even when I doubt our connection,
my heart knows
what's real.

In the Company of Trees

When I was a child,
my mother used to say
"Go outside and find someone to play with!"

Hesitation was replaced
by a secret hope
as I ran out the door
to the woods
behind our house.

Contemplation
while sitting on a log
filled my heart with green calm.
Surrounded by peers
at school all day,
I needed the quiet
of leafy meditation.

The sunlight streaking through
the trees spoke to me of other places,
other times.
I could listen to my heart
in the company of trees.

Remembrance

The kids had just gone back to school
and a perfect blue sky
refreshed my morning, until a phone call.

My mother said, "Please turn on the tv!"
after the usual greetings.
Was this a joke?

I saw the images
repeated again and again
of planes crashing.

Only one thought was clear to me;
go get the kids! Get them now!

Son 20 minutes away,
daughter just over the hill.
Husband in harms way, working
for the government in suburban Maryland...
I felt like a slinking cat,
suddenly aware of dangers
everywhere.

I got in my van and drove
without calling first.

I picked up my son,
I picked up my daughter,
and we waited at home.
Ten and five... no explanation
made sense to them.
It was a beautiful day,
and we were inside waiting.

Nothing made sense
but to wait until we were all gathered.
The silence was dreadful.

Kayaking

Water shining smooth
I am paddling with vigor;
a kayak in flight.

Watching the swallows,
breathing in the warm sunset,
a sense of return.

Contentment rises
like the pink moon's reflection.
I would change nothing.

Summer

These days are the ones we have longed for
throughout the rainy months~
These are the perfect sunny moments
buoyed by breeze and birdsong.

I delight in the freedom of summer
and yet
there lurks beneath my ease
a sense of duty unfulfilled.

Am I too comfortable?
Where does this private urgency
reside?

Serenity would be the real gift.

These perfect summer days
bring together past, present and future
as I remember crocheting with my Grandmother,
swimming with my babies,
mowing the lawn while keeping an eye
on the sandbox... delighting in full moons
and fireflies.

Now I feel my heart's mobility
as the future begs my time.
Ambivalence is the cat
that purrs with contentment
one minute and stalks a bird the next.

Who is this summertime self
when the kids are out of the house?

Hindsight

Hindsight is a funny friend,
pointing backward with a smile
and a laugh~
"Wonder why that was so hard?"
she asks,
a little wiser now.

Hindsight is a helpful friend,
if you only hang out with her
on special occasions.
"Remember that time..."
she asks, and you flinch
just a little bit~
then laugh.

You were a different person then.
But so was everyone else.

Today is the first Monday of the new year,
and all Hindsight has to say
is "Go for it".
She is tired of reminding you
of what you already know.
She's ready to remind you
of how prepared you are
for this moment.
NOW.