finding

by Shannondoah

in the searching

there is the 

losing

in the finding

there is the

gaining

the loss of

you

gifted me

with the

finding

of myself

empire

by Mary Oliver

'Of The Empire'

We will be known as a culture that feared death

and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity

for the few and cared little for the penury of the

many. We will be known as a culture that taught

and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke

little if at all about the quality of life for

people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All

the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a 

commodity. And they will say that this structure 

was held together politically, which it was, and

they will say also that our politics was no more

than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of

the heart, and that the heart, in those days,

was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

dove

by Shannondoah

there is a quiet

swell

rolling inside me

like the

waves set

upon the sea

each break

like a

deep breath in

and

each crash 

like the 

great exhale

o wild mountain

calling my heart

singing

in the winds

here 

the rain falls

nurturing 

the 

lands

and cleanses

my soul

how could i 

roam

so far 

from 

home

like a dove

i will return

le temp reviens

silence

by Paramahansa Yogananda

Metaphysical Meditations

‘On Humility and Pride’

I will conquer pride by humility, wrath

by love, excitement by calmness, selfishness

by unselfishness, evil by good, ignorance by 

knowledge, and restlessness by the ineffable 

peace acquired in the stillness of inner silence.