Nirvana

To listen to Tom Waits read it, go to: Hear Nirvana on youtube

not much chance,

completely cut loose from purpose,

he was a young man riding a bus

through North Carolina

on the wat to somewhere

and it began to snow

and the bus stopped

at a little cafe in the hills

and the passengers  entered.

he sat at the counter

with the others,

he ordered and the

food arived.

the meal was

particularly good

and the coffee.

the waitress was

unlike the women

he had known.

she was unaffected,

there was a natural

humor which came from her.

the fry cook said crazy things.

the dishwasher.

in back, laughed,

a good clean pleasant laugh.

the young man watched

the snow through the windows.

he wanted to stay in that cafe

forever.

the curious feeling

swam through him

that everything

was beautiful there,

that it would always

stay beautiful there.

then the bus driver

told the passengers

that it was time

to board.

the young man

thought, I'll just sit

here, I'll just stay

here.

but then

he rose and followed

the others into the

bus.

he found his seat

and looked at the cafe

through the bus

window.

then the bus moved

off, down a curve,

downward, out of

the hills.

the young man

looked straight forward.

he heard the other

passengers speaking

of other things,

or they were reading or

attempting to sleep.

they had not

noticed the magic.

the young man

put his head to

one side,

closed his eyes,

pretended to sleep.

there was nothing

else to do-

just to listen to the

sound of the engine,

the sound of the

tires in the snow.

Roll the Dice

This is an inspiring poem, one of my personal favourites.

By Charles Bukowski

If you’re going to try,

go all the way.

otherwise, don’t even start.

This could mean losing girlfriends,

wives, relatives, jobs and

maybe your mind.

It could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.

it could mean freezing on a

park bench.

it could mean jail,

it could mean derision,

it could mean mockery,

isolation.

Isolation is the gift,

all the others are a test

of your endurance,

of how much you really want to

do it.

and you’ll do it

despite rejection and the worst odds

and it will be better than

anything else

you can imagine.

If you’re going to try,

go all the way.

there is no other feeling like that.

you will be alone with the gods

and the nights will flame with fire.

You will ride life

straight to perfect laughter,

it's the only good fight there is.

Charles Bukowski

Listen in

I carry your heart with me

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in
my heart) I am never without it (anywhere
I go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

E. E. Cummings 

Listen to Mark Coleman read it

Only Breath

Only Breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being. 

Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

To listen to the poem, click here

How do I love thee

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

She walks in Beauty

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in Beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent! 

George Gordon Lord Byron

Love Leviathan

When the intractable love leviathan attacks,

Upending that fine art of mindfulness,

Tearing away that joyful, soulful balance,  

Give it a good look; give it a fine thought.

Give it your days; give it your nights,

Watch in despair as it consumes your soul.

But if you can stand still, and not give up yet,

If you can fight, and your head is unbowed yet,

One day, one moment,

You shall stumble upon your old gold mine,

Muddied, yet faithfully guarding all your golden rays

That rush back home, to fill your mind, and your thoughts

To chase the leviathans away, slash them, burn them

Lightness fills the heart; cheer spreads the body,

Dark clouds lift, the glow that becomes the face.

Thus returns that wondrous laugh, from the depths of your heart

The sunshine and the lightness of spirit, so truly yours,

That same lightness that no leviathans can assail.