Wherever you go, go with all of your heart.

The tag on a tea bag inspired me the morning I wrote this poem.  (It held the first line.)

--

Wherever you go,

go with all of your heart.

Do not be swayed by things you surfacely want

things others think

you need.

Plunge into life with both hands full of mud,

ready for building.

Hold nothing

but earth and

wind.

The rest,

trust,

when needed,

you will find.

Your time always reflects back

with the moon.

Trust the sky to tell time,

nothing more.

Even shadows upon the earth

can lie.

Light and dark create multitudes of truths.

Remember the cave into which you were born.

Remember the stone.

Remember coming forth

into Light.

Your sword pulled from a warrior's chest

is the sun rising on the sea each day.

Your birth is the same.

Be reborn every day,

but retain that

steel connection to yesterday and years beyond:

the earth and the sun have been here a billion billion years

in dust across the stars

and space that will always be.

How many foes, memories, kinsman

vanquished?

How many migrations?

How many true homes?

We are a sturdy people with tender hearts

and timeless souls.

We own liquid eyes that have seen

places beyond dreaming.

Sand that drifts so freely

once was mountain that would not move.

Words need a vessel

and breath.

Nothing exists beyond itself.

As you journey,

you will always stay.

So wherever you go,

go with all your heart.

Write poems

and leave them for strangers

on subways.

Embrace the lover

and bend moments into hours.

Collect tears

to be buried

for trees that drink sadness.

When life is spinning

remember

your pulse

the Blood

your breath.

These are our constant cycles of living.

Think of a wheel,

or a spinning top;

What is moving is more steady

than that which stops still.

And even in blessed stillness

gravity is one constant

every time.

I wish for you

both warmth and chill,

soft and hard,

damp and dry.

Sensations,

appreciations,

constancy,

change.

Dear One,

I write as a poet,

with the heart of a friend.

If you are lonely,

call upon me,

or come live in my words

for a while.

--

CBF Dec. 13, 2012