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Capturing Freedom Part Three:
FREEDOM

Freedom comes by embracing the light - and the dark. This is not for the faint of heart. It means entering the great circle of transformation. Everything is grist in the cycle of night and day. Tomorrow arrives as yesterday dies. Again and again the light moves through the darkness, drawing forth whatever cringes there. The light understands, whispering, cajoling, promising: "There is no need to fear the potential for which you long. Look within. Plumb the depths. In your darkest place, there I am. I am the simple truth of your being."

To be free is to continue to grow, again and again to become more than moments before. The grave paradox of such freedom is that each burst of new life requires a companion death. Every moment of awareness offers such potential. Every contact with another creates such a challenge. The glorious splendor of a life freely lived is not all sweetness and light. The power of light comes to be known as fire, the ancient destroyer. Whatever cannot live in the clarity of the moment is naturally purified, burned away. What lives on is the vibrant resilience we call love.

 

PRECIOUS INSIDE

Soft hands gentle and open
Expansive
Like a valley nestled warmly
Beneath the snow-capped
Raw rock
Where a lone mighty pine
Clings to the cliff
For the sake of the view of the distance
Unseen
From within the nearby cave
Where the little one
Quivers
Safely unborn inside the raw rock
Protected longing
For the delicate touch
That tenderly reaches out now
Warm expansive hands
Molding to the hidden need
Holding so exquisitely delicately
Safely
The trembling little one
So long waiting
Now lovingly cherished
Precious inside


THE GREEN MAN

Constructing a life was never easy.
The work of making the pieces fit
Was hard.
It had to be thought out,
Done right.
Relief ended most days: well done.
For now.
Everything changed late one afternoon.
Something drew him deep into the forest shadows.
Light and dark fragmented the forest floor,
Unmoving, as though awaiting a coming storm.
His eyes found it somehow
In the dark,
The seedling which called to him.
It barely stood in the shadow of a mighty oak,
Seeming to strain for the light beyond reach.
The frailty and the potential were evident to him.
He knew this seedling
And himself for the first time.
There was no turning back now.
He cared.

Though his fingers loosened the soil,
The uprooting left pieces behind.
He felt the tearing echo in his heart.
A single drop of water shook a tiny leaf.
It was not a rain drop he saw;
The storm was in the past now.
In that moment,
In the dark,
All his losses were clear.
Though it soiled his white shirt
He held the roots with both hands
Close to his heart.
Then his body moved
And his thoughts followed.
It was a kinder way.

Now,
In the center of his back yard
A sapling stands
For the memory of the seedling.
The Green Man has not forgotten.
His home is alive
With the frailty and potential
Of carefully tendered growth.
Green leaf oxygen factories
Cleanse and nourish the air:
A return on the quality of his care,
Elegantly evident reciprocity.
He serves what grows as it serves him.
He lives the natural way now,
Knows the cycles.
He is active when the time of dying comes:
Pruning what has outlived itself,
Feeding the soil with what once lived,
Nurturing new life with the old,
Providing for the seeds,
Attending the needs,
As life springs forth.
Again and again.
He knows the growing way;
Love gives life.


SHADOW ZONE

In the darkest night
When the demons howl
There's a power in you
That's on the prowl
It's the strength of love
In your force of will
The depth of your soul
When you're standing still
It's the simple truth
Of who you are
The fire that forged
The brightest star
So let them know
Who would take you on
That you're standing firm
Till they've come and gone
You've walked through fear
Been all alone
You're the shimmering wolf
In the shadow zone


FALLING BOLDER

The soft as ever moss was there
Held without a care
By the ageless mass of stone
As always unmoving unlike
The relentless wind forbidding
As some time seems forever
A moment's rest to the fluttering leaves
Whispering warily of the stillness
Already bestowed on the early wanderers
The first to be released
From the fluidsong of earth and air
The first to let go
The first to dare
Riding the lone restless element
Wildly passionate moment
Lifting and plummeting inevitably
To rest
In the one to whom all return
In the stillness for which all long
In this moment where
The boulder lies
Aware


WHO WE ARE

I am aware of who I am with you;
And I know you are aware of who you are with me.
Let us also be aware of each other.

I have no power over you, nor do I want it.
You have no power over me,
Nor do I give it to you.

Just being myself is enough power for me.
I am letting myself out. . .
Just as I am.

I welcome you being yourself as well.
I am letting you in . . .
Just as you are.

Let us remain true to oneself with each other.

I accept the truth of the energy between us.
This energy identifies us
To each other.

I know the truth of the energy within me:
I do not fear it.
I know how I feel with you.

I sense the truth of the energy which you reveal.
I do not fear it.
I know the power you show with me.

Your energy affects me, and yet,
What I feel is my energy.
I feel the power within me
I decide what to do with it: how I move - what I show.

My emotion is known to you;
Whatever your emotion, my empathy is true.
We are responsive to each other.

The energy with which we communicate
Is common to every one.
We reverence this energy as it moves
Within and between each one of us.

This energy is the one spirit
Which joins us in the community of being.
The spirit of our being together
Tells us who we are.

Our spirit frees us to be fully alive
In the sacred awareness which knows
Who we are.


TWO FLAMES, ONE IN THE BURNING

Your pain is the flame that burns
Flailing the soft places inside.
Is it you? Is it me? Is it us?
This ache that devours our energy?

I know you in the ways my father/god failed me.
Is it you I know or the wound in me?
He would not soothe my hurt, nor can you.
I wanted my mommy – afraid I lost her – you.

My pain is the flame that enters,
Tearing down what it consumes.
Is it me? Is it you? Is it us?
The horror of this searing meltdown?

I know us in the ways we commiserache.
Could we each be lost in this boiling soup?
I fear I am not loveable, you see me in the mirror.
We see each other, only, never our selves.


Your pain, I know. My pain, I know.
I am me; I feel my pain.
I see you: I sense your pain.
We feel separately, for ourselves,
And for each other.
We know our pain.
Its soft radiance eases the devastation of centuries.
Our roots entwine,
Enaching forgotten memories.


We are the flame burning brightly.
No bushel dare contain us.
No walls need protect us.
The darkness backs away in awe.

Two flames, one in the burning,
Dancing in the warmth of their flickering flow.
Two flames, one in the yearning,
Feeling the hope in love's soft glow.


HOW IT BURNS

After everyone left we put the fire out
Relieved
To settle back into the darkness
For a while
How it burns
That primal flame inviting one close
Seducing with its warm promises
One light for all
Plenty for each
How it burns
Calling forth everything once hidden safely
Unknown in the dark
So gently flickering
Whispering come closer
Trust the light
How it burns
In the longing of an aching heart
Once empty and safely alone
Hurting no more
Forever unfelt
Unseen and unheard
Sole one
How it burns
As each one rushes cautiously
Into the promise of renewal
Eventually close again in the soft light
Melting the unyielding
As it flows through the unspoken words
How it burns
This river of fire
Gathering the wild power as it charges
Through the unfelt feelings
Light whitewater rapids licking the unmovable
How it burns
The pain entombed
In its forever fear casket
Offering new life to the once dead
Come out ... Come out
Live in the joy of the light
Where one is known
Each is seen
Word is flesh
Love is light
How it burns


FIRESEED

One crystal ball
With the future's eyes
Calmly
Sees the past in flames
Knowing now is
All
Let it burn
The darkness cries
Let it burn
Else however will the light find
Me
So alone holding
Now
All that was
A simple seed
Potent yearning past
Brittle confines yielding
When the light calls
From above
From beyond
From deep within
Breaking the barriers once thought solid
Inconceivably more than moments before
Surpassing enough stretching
Through the not yet known
Past the barely dreamed
Deeper into the darkness
All the way to the hidden center
Of the light's full
Potential as yet
While still the living fire of experience
Burns
Releasing expectations
Transforming genetic codes
Leaping casually through every impossibility
Certainly a burning seed
Gives no life yet
Feel
This Spirit gently surging
Through every little death
As this fire destroys while its light reveals
What every Soul knows
Now is always
Better


THE CIRCLE

Let's begin where it all
Started,
This winding path
That carried you away from the
Soft whisperings,
Long ago forgotten stirring
As you wondered
What this tender golden light
Might hold if you settled
Inside it and let it fill
Your hungry soul,
Shining from within as it does
To light your way
Through the darkest woods,
The deepest caverns;
Radiating from within
To shape-shift your essence,
Refining what each new challenge
Called forth;
Easing your way down
From the breathtaking cliffs
Where pleasure petrifies,
Lifting you up from the sunken desert
Where heavy hearts
Dry into stones;
Following and blazing
As you have always,
The golden path,
The one softening you away
From the lonely extremes,
This gentle, unquenchable
Light
Living within you
And meeting its reflection
From without
As your heart continues to resonate
With the rhythmic whisperings
Of the ancient other
Calling you out
To the inside
Where you may settle
For as long as you like
Until you are ready
To begin again.


IS ONE

Let energy have my full attention
The spirit of this moment
All of it flowing
As one
Let my awareness be free
To shift and notice
Whatever is
Calling
Let my attention safely settle
Within my own body
Lovingly holding
What moves
Let my quiet pleasure shimmer
Like moonlight on a lake
So that I am the water
Easily still
Let my fear be a flicker of light
Showing courage a way
Through my darkest
Depths
Let my pain be a softening wave
Releasing the captive
Too long alone
Inside
Let my anger be a rising storm
Tearing down the walls
That keep us all
Apart
Let my joy be the ocean's currents
Carrying the lifegiving water
Swelling thru my heart
To yours
Let our touch be the water's way
Of lapping distant shores
Trusting the warmth
Of the land
Let all earthwalkers know
Within and between
The flow we feel
Is One


growing

happens naturally
when I'm letting go of myself
flowing into your heart
where there's room for all of me
so willing are you to stretch
beyond yesterday's confines
through your fear of the dark
and the light
into the fullness of who you are
always becoming
always more
than moments ago trusting now
the tenderly overflowing surge
that is your love of life
radiating like the sun
into the empty recesses
of my longing
for all that we are
coming to be
in love


PASS IT ON

If your dreams called the sky
Home
The teardrops from the full hearts
I've known would be plenty
To feed the roots you've helped me
Sink so wonderfully deep
Here in this safe little grove
Where I feel like you've always been
Growing beside me that's how
I've found my way along the flexible
Strength of these long and flowing limbs
Where I'm still sitting balancing in the breeze
For as long as I like
Looking out over the world
While my heart has been growing wings
That long to stretch and test
The joy full breath that blows
Near and far
Between us all
Now lifting me on this easy glide
Up and away
Where I see why you've loved it so
Trusting the breeze as it opens my eyes
To a panorama worthy of the dreams
Which gave me life
And let me go
To pass it on


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