Being is change

Being is change. We are but a return
drawn to the source, on loan,
with rooted feelings,
yet bemoan the ever floating self.
We burn

all bridges to the past, a past that dies,
as we advance, grow high
and long for skies.
Grasping to fly
leads to eternal quest.
We search for heaven,
struggling alone to reach the stars,
Are they but stone?

Preserve and save as trees
that fiercely guard their sap
sending it up in vigorous dreams,
branched out, forever rising
in green wide worlds.
Yet down below,
they strongly know the earth.
They hold it dear, by rooting underground,
their place of birth.

When storms unleash,
all dreams are blown apart.
A gust of wind, a desperate beating heart,
extinguished light, we all foresee the fall.
A brought down tree, the silence after all…

Yet deep below the new world germinates,
though still concealed and only to be guessed.
Being is change, it does not terminate
forgotten faces, flames that have blown out.

The stricken tree keeps growing heavenwards,
the heart aims for the stars,
to lighten what is stone.

Prayers for Peace

A Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors...
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love,
to respect, and to be kind toeach other
so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things
that you providefor us on this Earth.


A Christian Prayer for Peace

But I say to you that hear, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.


A Muslim Prayer for Peace

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe
who has created us and made us into tribes and nations
that we may know each other,
not that we may despise each other.


A Jewish Prayer for Peace

Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we shall be a tour swords into plow shares,
and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
And none shall be afraid.



A Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings
of body and mind quickly be freed from their illness.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.



A Hindu Prayer for Peace

O God, lead us from the unreal to the real.
O God, lead us from darkness to light.
O God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti,Shanti unto all.



A Jainist Prayer for Peace

Do not injure any living being.
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable way of spiritual life.
Forgive do I all creatures, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.


A Baha'i Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity,...
be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness
and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light
unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind,
a dew to the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.


A Sikh Prayer for Peace

We attain God when we love,
and only that victory endures in consequences
of which no one is defeated.


A Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt,
and that truth triumph over falsehood.


A Shinto Prayer for Peace

Although all living across the ocean surrounding us,
I believe all are our brothers and sisters.
Why are there constant troubles in this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the oceans surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away
all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of mountains.

When we see we are growing old

It is there, in the strong light, when we see
we are growing old.

Loneliness is a glance over a darkening lake.
Let's play kiss chase.

I send my looks deep into the willow tree.
Grope me there. I am your Snow-white.

Break my cold lips into tiny sunsets
cups of pale moonlight, silent waterbirds.

Give me a second chance. I will ride
your swan, its feathers the fluff of dreams.

I am naturally lonely. I cannot stop
fondle you in the darkness.

Draw me a water lily in the misty water,
a shell between my lips, pearls in my eyes.

Fly away I say,
when everything turns white.

We, the settlers

We, the settlers, trekking behind
the covered wagons of time, rattle the hours
in pockets of loose moments.

that can hold only so much in a day. We want more
for next week, next year, always in search
of the wild land of permanence.

Wheels rock, moods swing in the bandwagons
to success. Hands accelerate
to build faster, sooner, just in time
at the speed of the ticking clock.

Years, stubborn as mules, stand firm
against time-wasters. None can afford losing days.
Dawn chases the light down to dusk.

We lie with the horses who race the sun
but sink to their knees in the darkness.

At night, moribund in our cardboard homes,
we guess another existence, where we move
to a different light, sense contrary feelings,
thrive on unheard language.

My Daughters

One leaves early in the morning,

with the clickety-clack sound
of her stilettos, size seven,
the other stays in bed, next to
her glass of water, mars bars
and world music cd’s. I hear
but hardly see them. Their lives
are evident by signs they pass:
food gone from the fridge, a briefly
switched on tv, a phone ringing,
A brush with a door, a rush of wind,
remove their traces, but not
the heady vanilla-jasmine scent,

the crumbs of burnt toast,
scattered letters from the dole office.