Tag Archives: compassion

I hear the mother’s heartbeat (27 Oct 2011)

9 Dec

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
it is the background noise of every life
and with us always

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
it is the birth space, the lush embrace
the fecund warm breath

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
it is ochre, it is sunset,
it is marigold, desert, Uluru, the red planet

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
the tribal drums, the call to hunt
the prey offering itself, the knowing
the acknowledging, the sacrifice

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
her serenity, her surrender, her dignity,
her grace

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
when her own death is felt
before she dies

I hear the mother’s heartbeat
she is the still point in every night sky
she is the nowhere to go
she is the ceasing fluctuations of mind

she is quiet … she is quiet
she is ever more
she is ever-present

her love is her death
her fragile opening
her tender watering

her love is her body
her home in darkness
her fingers touching the almost in her life

her love is the offering
she offers her best
back to heaven

the pre-born said she would
depart before she arrived

now she is the mother’s heartbeat

it is the mother that holds you and me
she is that background
beat

that pushes us back into life

be kind (30 Aug 2010)

8 Sep

amazing how righteous indignation
  or anger or sulking
   or brooding
can play host to such
   permanence

he, you, they, them, all of the
thems so persistently
  consistently
   convincingly
proving my mind right | proving my mind right

like I can wear a badge
saying see! I told you
so, I harden the evidence
   overwhelming
in support of me

and so, if I want to see the
  impermanence, of my moods
of theirs, in relation to that,
I actually need to ask
for an entirely new scene

where boxes and paths and
  well trodden tracks
   don’t yet exist
to illustrate
that the kindest thing

   is nothing fixed
  to an idea or mountain
or moll hill or even
to thinking I know him
or them or anyone

because that’s real
                    intimacy
it is the real dirty knowing
the unassumed recognition
an open bandwidth to be

                            free
and profoundly kind to my self
as a service to them
to be kind to them
                 as a service to me.

karma (26 June 2010)

10 Jul

to say ‘I guess it’s your karma’
like that explains Everything
it has a way of rebounding on you

because even if well intentioned
and highly wise
it really doesn’t sound

particularly compassionate
though it does account
for feeling disproportionate

and really I should meditate
before sending anything
so that magnitudes

(or trivialities) are respected and

an angry opening
will eventually ask to be
  compassionate

  and wise
and look (for) an opportunity
in the eyes

or heart

your presence (22 May 2010)

29 Jun

I am honoured by your presence
you are shining my brightness
back to me
and I would love to hold on

You are only here for a moment
because your light, your clear mirror
is needed for special purposes
and because you know

it is your destiny to follow
this yearning to the ends of the earth
(and back again)

The deepest compassion exists
for your journey. For the struggle
that opens before you
of belonging

I can hold the turnings of your heart
and mind in my heart
because I know it will pass
I know you will pass

And I know there’s no wrong decision
only what is present
And this is all I can
reflect back to you

touched (15 April 2010)

29 Jun

we can cry for a baby mouse
disable in the chase of cat n mouse
and we can cry for our broken

dream where it feels like
the universe has taken sides
  against us

it is the same open heart that cries
allowing compassion
to show how truly vast

our heart has become

thank you for sharing (Oriah)
the cracks in your heart
shed light into thousands and

I am touched by your perfectness

growing up (12 Aug 2009)

9 Jan

I think you could say
your attention spun me around
your love pealed back the pain
and the pain you handed me
showed how much ugliness
I can love

I can see only now how much
was hidden in order for me to
grow, acute pain is
the earnest throb of blood
feeding stories and vessels

so much needed to be hidden
in that delicate hatching
in order to grow wise
  and strong
  and compassionate

truth (10 June 2009)

9 Jan

truth imparts a kind of hard edge
when you aim for it
at all costs
there are no warm lines

like the neighbour warring
over her right of way
it is the contradiction
that looks deeper

and finds both sides right
truth is nothing
without compassion
a blunt axe in an already

culled forest
saying; see! at the last falling tree!
without love, the journey
to truth does not exist

you being you (25 May 2009)

9 Jan

I love you
I love you being you
and I am learning to love
  me as I respond
   to you

I am accepting me to a
  greater measure
I see more of me
(the more of me that I don’t
  necessarily want to see)

and in that, more of me
  seeks to respond
from a space of love
  compassion
   and acceptance

thank you for this opportunity

take a look (28 April 2009)

18 Dec

pain lives around
lies and unquestioned
truth, take a look

when you know
‘that’s not it’ and
know nothing else

take a look, for
all it is, is a shape
needing to be held

draw no guilt, take
nothing from the wound
simply hold

this sad feeling
this need to express
let tears be tears

tree of life (13 Oct 2008)

17 Sep

Tree of Life Painting by Billy McGrathtake this building
and plant a tree inside
she will grow, don’t worry
all she needs is a kind thought to water

notice her roots are magic
like a divining rod, they seek the pulse of
earth, rich and poor, to give form
to that which shakes

see her arms spread open
receiving every day as her own child
see her tickle the currents and ideas
and with the simplest act, drop them

as the autumn sun takes the shortest path
see her dance
  see her seek light
   see her naked and exposed

baring now ancient wisdom
and scattering leaves like pearls
and pearls like the sage passes down wisdom
see her thickening trunk

pulsate the deep heart from the mother stone
a rose quart(caught) of beauty
a candle’s new flame
see her touch the sky

spreading the blue light from horizon to
horizon, and dappling in fun summers
see her protect all
see her adore the attention

  knowing all the while, she does not exist
see her as ancient
   as ever being
   as invisible beyond worlds

and as large as life
in every dancing cell
see her as perfect
   as your story

and your seed creation
see her as something you watered
  with a spontaneous heart
  and impulsive mind

see that
  and declare:
    I AM SHE

—

» You can view the painting Tree of Life by Billy McGrath on his website.

» Read the article I wrote about The Tree of Life and entering it into a poetry competition.

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