page 94

love is an all encompassing
sense of safety;

discount all other factors,

the person at present

was enriched by
or deprived of it

in childhood.

the disfigurement of one's worth
and orientation of purpose

in the world
is almost always arm's reach

from a disharmony of love
for one's self

or from others;

     at the doorway of reservation,
     you will knock

     and this person will be standing
     behind the door.

     at the opening...
     at the cessation of fighting...

     this person will collapse
     into tears.

as one who cares, you must
let this person fall,

and you must also let this person stand.

but you have the opportunity---
this person, upon succumbing to

all he or she carries or believes,
is giving you the opportunity

to touch;

the promise to grasp your hand
on his or her arm

and help he or she stand.
it may just be the most precious

opportunity of all;
the chance to show someone

what it means to be loved.

:::

the choice is never

to take You to a smooth jazz bar;

Your attributes would appear

spontaneously acute.

Your speech would appear

rhythmically religious.

Your eyes would appear

as to challenge the rules.

and Your hands...

would float---clap---rock---sway---tap

like a story which cannot be told

yet,

may only be whispered between the notes

of melodic conspiracy.

:::

there is no me.

there is only This.

This is All. and

All is One.

:::

become the branch of a willow tree;

make yourself light in weight.

allow yourself to bend.

give yourself patience.

turn your back to the breeze of change

and do not prepare for anything;

you have made yourself ready

to fly.

:::

the plight of human character

comes not

from the absence of giving

of oneself to others

with no reward in return.

far more harmful to the human character

is the absence of giving

of oneself to oneself

with no reward in return.

:::

the spirit creates our dreams.

the heart motivates us to take action towards our dreams.

and the mind calculates the means by which

to achieve those actions.

eliminate the human

and we all become a chef---

kneading the dough of an emptiness

that takes life itself out of living.

~

there is the human

and

there is the spirit.

but most of all,

there is the human spirit.

:::

you and i rode on a red rose.

my body resisted ejection,

but i allowed my emotions

to eject---

each one becoming the road

of a stem whose thorns littered

the landscape behind us.

beautifully and tragically

i then understood;

as shown by the red flower,

love is both defenseless

and defended.

:::

my mamoo was one of the wisest

of souls.

and she always had great stories to tell.

several nights after supper, we would

sit on a bench behind our house

and watch the sunset,

especially during the summer.

one afternoon,

when the sun was at its most golden state,

mamoo gave me a piece of advice

that altered the way i lived my life:

she said,

"sweetheart, can you find an old beer bottle

for me---and take off the wrapping too?"

i did as she asked

and gave her the green bottle.

"thank you sweetheart. now,

this bottle is hard. right? it's cold

and it's fragile. you must tend to it.

take care never to drop it.

but you can also see through it."

she then held it up over the sun

and squinted one of her eyes.

"now, the light shines through it.

this you must know...

this bottle will represent all of the things

in life that will try to set you back.

but my sweetheart, you are the sun.

the light is not being captured in this bottle, no.

the light is simply bending through the bottle."

"see it? you will never be the bottle.

you will always be the light."

"...but remember this,

you must take care of the bottle.

clean it, hold it, accept it.

you must accept that it will indeed

bend you."

"if you do this, my star,

you will say strongly,

i allowed myself to bend through life,
but i never allowed life to bend through me.