We are each an island
Divided by the sea
Underneath the earth and rocks
Connecting you and me

Up above the moon and sun
Lighting up our cause
All around the restless sea
Lapping at our shores

As Ekhart Tolle once said:
I have known Many Zen masters -
All of them cats

I too
Have known a few
Loving one like a fool
As much for his cuddliness
As his cool

No role to perform
No goal to achieve
No urge to conform
No thing to believe
No judgements to air
No longings to cap
No troubles to ease
No bridging the gap
No task to complete
No journey to start
Just peace in the mind
And love in the heart

There’s a wonderful thing that happens
When you've exhausted all of your patterns
And taken the time to let go of
All that you think that you know of
A person you've lived with for years

And all your unconscious projections
Judgements and sketchy intentions
Fall to the floor
And you see
The beautiful person before you
Is more than you dreamed them to be

As brooks bubble
And buds bloom
As debts double
And deadlines loom

As stars gleam
And wonder calls
As flames flicker
And shadows fall

As order comes
And love engages
As chaos reigns
And contrast rages

I step aside from all conclusions
Left the lid on life's delusions
On the tide of sweet illusion
I row I row I row

What is fun?

A sticky bun?
A journey begun?
A sleep in the sun?

Curiosity stoked?
Wonder provoked?
Beauty evoked?

Laughter and tears?
Friendship for years?
Love over fears?

Music and travel?
Knots that unravel?
Knots that unravel

Tall, short, fat, thin
weak, strong, her, him
Rich, poor, black, white
Gay, straight, wrong, right

Good, bad, false, true
Them, us, me, you
Win, lose, give, take
Live, die, choice, fate

What now? Change course?
Two sides, one source
Two sides, fresh start
One love, one heart

The sun is up
The willows sway
I'm preparing for a sunny day

The wind is chill
The buildings grey
I'm preparing for a sunny day

The mind is clear
The soul's at play
I'm preparing for a sunny day

The heart is bruised
I’ll be okay
I'm preparing for a sunny day

I walked a great walk
By way of ridge and brook
Heavy-breathed, through copper fields
Of highland grass, wild game and
Barren pass, I took my time
Facing each unknown as it came

And in that most majestic space
As I reclined looking back on what
I’d climbed, a lonesome voice
Brisk and careless, came to mind
From the depths of what In fairness
I’d sought to leave behind

You should’ve done this sooner
It said, when you were younger
It bled, as though now didn’t count
Like I should have known
But wiser still, by sunny glade
And frosty peak I have grown

So sitting there in my preparedness
That thought now caught in my awareness
Passed not from mind to body to soul, but out
Between heartbeats. Out, upon the warmth
Of my breath. Out into awe and splendour
Where it died a timeless death

I went for a walk down Wicklewock way
Where the street signs creak and sway
I went for a walk down Wicklewock way
Wish I hadn’t wandered down that way

The air was choked, the sky was stained
The way was steep and veiled
I went for a walk down Wicklewock way
To the place my soul once sailed

Cross seething sea and barren plain
To mines of pitch and shim
Through ghosts of love and ardour slain
That lurch beneath the skin

By frigid lake not quite awake
I found a place to wallow
As sallow guests with hollow chests
Beckoned me to follow

I went for a walk down Wicklewock way
Where the street signs creak and sway
I went for a walk down Wicklewock way
Wish I hadn’t wandered down that way

How I love that sunset light
Through valley haze to sleepy gaze
In summer grass and winter glass
Lightens heart, summons grace
Wrests the soul from time and space

The life you’ll come to know
The world you will perceive
Has less to do
With things you learn
Than things you will believe

Prisons must be
The saddest of places
Full of despair
And desolate faces
Full of the lonely
Full of the tough
Full of the children
Who weren't loved enough

It's easy to blame
To say they made choices
But many were made
Long before they had voices
And many were maimed
In spirit and heart
Broken and beaten
Before they could start

For some it may be
The damage is done
The sort of deep damage
That can't be undone

But even those souls
So tragically lost
Who serve only self
Whatever the cost
Need to know mercy
Compassion and kindness
For anything less
Is a pathway to blindness
And anything less
Than love as the vision
Makes for yourself
Your own kind of prison

There was a man who long forgot
That life was just a dream
He lived in separation
Felt he couldn't change a thing

Until one day he heard a voice
That turned him on his head
Was like he knew it all along
And this is what it said

The world is just a mirror
Reflecting back your mind
If you think some thing is real
Then you are sure to find

Evidence and reason to
Substantiate your truth
There's nothing more reductive than
An appetite for proof

And though we are susceptible
To all that we perceive
Nothing is more powerful
Than thoughts that you believe

And nothing is more certain
In this life of ebb and flow
What you pay attention to
Is what you help to grow

So close your eyes, listen close
Choose your thoughts with care
For what you think and what you feel
Shapes your world out there

I walked outside to open ground, I bent and stretched and wandered round
I touched the grass, sniffed the trees, crunched the stones, watched the bees
The sun fell warm upon my face, a breeze that danced through time and space
It seemed to reach beneath my skin - a strange elation stirred within

I found a cobbled wall and gate, raised the latch, stood up straight
Gazed out on a golden field, felt a longing long concealed
Then stepping on a dusty path - a pretty, gritty, rusty path
I praised the land through which I ambled, as Tui sang and Romney’s rambled

And all the while the sun did shine, the breeze did dance, the stars aligned
With something great beneath my skin, something timeless deep within

I took one step into another, embraced the field like a lover
Saw the world through crystal eyes. How clear the air! How deep the sky!
But as my feet fell into stride, my restless heart began to chide
It fluttered, paused and gently pressed, a wistful beat inside my chest

Come to me. It seemed to say, like I'd wandered far away
And so I sought a place to sit, to listen and commune with it

I stretched myself upon the ground, breath to breath, inward bound
Closed my eyes as if to dream - let go, let go - surrendering
And in that warming winter glow, I slipped beyond the world I know
Beyond my mind, beyond my being, into darkness, somehow seeing

I am the sun. The earth. The breeze
The dusty path. The scent of trees
The blood that pulses in my veins
The molten core. The astral planes

I’m every thought and every note
The giggle in a baby's throat
All that lives, that is, will be
I as It. It as me

The sun went down upon my senses, doused in pearls the night dispenses
Body quashed and loosely furled, my spirit spanned the cosmic world
And as my memory lay amiss, I felt not fear but Orphic bliss
All colossus, every crumb, all at once, all as one

A trillion links began to break, my resting mind began to wake
Floating back into my senses, back to thoughts, back to fences
Back through gates by which I came, back to the bees, the trees again
Back to that rare and fleeting place, the precious gift of time and space

That night I lay upon my bed, body buzzing toe to head
Humbly seeking to recapture, the sense of awe, the timeless rapture
And with elation running rife, I laughed the deepest love for life
For I had felt my soul traverse, the fabric of the universe
And I had seen from where we came
And in good time
Will go again