see

by Shannondoah

see

dreaming 

of 

your 

essence,

your 

truth.

do 

you 

remember?

I do.

memories

like

salty 

seas

infinite 

abyss

our 

truth,

I see.

house

by Rose O'Neill (late 19th/early 20th century)

I Made A House

of Houselessness

I made house of houselessness,

A garden of your going:

And seven trees of seven wounds

You gave me, all unknowing:

I made a feast of golden grief

That you so lordly left me,

I made a bed of all the smiles

Whereof your lip bereft me:

I made a sun of your delay,

Your daily loss, his setting:

I made a wall of all your words

And a lock of your forgetting.

untamed

by Shannondoah

wildness

the

wildness 

inside

my heart

feels 

like

everything

pure

and true

often

i feel 

like

running

wild and 

free

fierce and 

full

like

the wind

so 

untamed 

yet 

so

beautiful

crystalline

by Pablo Neruda

Absence

I have scarcely left you

when you go in me, crystalline,

or trembling,

or uneasy, wounded by me

or overwhelmed with love, as when your eyes

close upon the gift of life

that without cease I give you.

My love,

we have found each other

thirsty and we have

drunk up all the water and the blood,

we found each other

hungry

and we bit each other

as fire bites,

leaving wounds in us.

But wait for me,

keep for me your sweetness.

I will give you too

a rose.

love

by Shannondoah

sometimes

i feel like

my love,

our love

can 

light up

the whole

night

sky

wildflowers

by William Blake

excerpt from ‘Auguries of Innocence’

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

and a Heaven in a Wild flower

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour

sky

by Shannondoah

bliss

Love

        like something

unforeseen 

Bliss

        is,

as the wind does

        sight, seeing

into ocean dreams

        Realms 

of air

        I fly with

the birds 

        by my side

Sweetness

        is my heart

full of you

flight

by Rumi

The way of love is not

a subtle argument.

The door there 

is devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles

of their freedom.

How do they learn it?

They fall, and falling,

they're given wings.

hawk

by Shannondoah

the trees

bend

where none

     dare to tread

Cloaking darkness

the light shines

through

patches of clouds

sweep by

misty morning sunrise

the sky clears

blue

and the hawk

flies on

blue

by Juliana Horatia Ewing

Gifts

You ask me what since we must part

You shall bring back to me.

Bring back a pure and faithful heart

As true as mine to thee

You talk of gems from foreign lands,

Of treasure, spoil, and prize.

Ah love! I shall not search your hands

But look into your eyes.

whale song

by Shannondoah

the ethereal sounds

of my

memories

sing

     whale songs

Reminding me

of the times

we sang

as 

    unity

A Love

that

Swims 

     forever.

mendocino

by D.H.Lawrence

a quote

“When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,

and when we escape like squirrels turning in the

      cages of our personality

and get into the forests again,

we shall shiver with cold and fright

but things will happen to us

so that we don't know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,

and passion will make our bodies taut with power,

we shall stamp our feet with new power

and old things will fall down,

we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like

        burnt paper.”

letter

by Mary Oliver

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

love is all there is

twin flame

by Shannondoah 

Love does not

need to search

for itself

As love is eternally

within

always knowing

home

I understand now,

I do not

need to

find you 

As you 

are

my breath,

feeling

the

morning sunshine

           as I

breathe it in

You are

inside

          my heart

loving

the

world

as I

look upon it,

each morning and

each night

Eternal flame,

eternal beloved

dancing

inside

of me

relentlessly

Flame of

my soul

not two

but one.