This is the way the spirit flows
like light in  veins
like gold filling cracked bones
like hearts unfurling
like chakra energy of body and soul

This is the way the spirit flows
like exponential radical acceptance
like unconditional radical love
like dear friends, Beloved
like walking each other home

This is the way the spirit flows
like the kin-dom (instead of the empire)
like the alternative neighborly community
like as in heaven, so on earth
like nations of plowshares and pruninghooks

This is the way the spirit flows
like light flowing over the waters
like breath in the nostrils
like splitting the wood and lifting the rock
like the stars whirring in the great Cosmos

Blessed are the poor in spirit
blessed are the meek
blessed are the merciful
blessed are the peacemakers
blessed are the spirit filled

Beloveds knock and it is answered
beloveds we are lifted up in dignity
beloveds we are receivers of redemption and grace
beloveds we are reconciled to the good of all
beloveds, thou art that

Yes, this is the way the spirit flows
in, with, and through all Creation
blessing all
lifting all
beloved all

Herb Stone ©
here&now working poetry
May 2019

Friend is an important word
In my lexicon
Friend is imbued with the qualities
Of truth and authenticity and trust

Friends share their truth and healing
Friends are given, not chosen
Friends give value to our survival
Friends are forever no matter the gap

When I call you friend
It is unconditionally
When I call you friend
We are empathically available

Calling one another friend
Relating as friends
Belonging in communities as friends
Walking one another home as friends

Friend is an important word to me
One of gravitas and gratefulness
One filled with life and love
Dearest friends I call to you

Herb Stone ©
here&now working poetry
May, 2019

Big busy buzzing bumble bee
in the high foxgloves
industriously visiting every bloom

Busily collecting pollen on your
big round hairy body and legs
with proboscis sucking nectar

Such a sight to behold
but stay out of my ear
which is no flower bloom

Yes, your buzz is delightful
and your touch is light
and my ear is full of pollen

Go big busy bumble bee buzzing about
back to you blooms and colony
so I may finish my gardening tasks  

Herb Stone ©
here&now working poetry
May 2019

As the Monk at the Abbey of Gethsemane
Once wisely taught us Beloveds
One can be a believer in the historical Jesus
And an Imperialist every moment of their lives **

Believers are doers of checklist religion:
Believe in the historical figure of Jesus….check
Sit in your pew in your church every Sunday….check
Tithe according to the Give Generously committee….check
Serve the poor you oppress….check
Worship God from afar….check

There is a world of difference in believers and followers
In checking off and checking in as a bearer
In observing from the crowd and carrying your own cross
In doing as believers and being as follower disciples

Followers are authentic disciples faithfully carrying their cross
Being followers in the footsteps of The Way of Jesus
Being confessors and repenters of Costly Grace ***
Being humble, merciful, and just as required by God ****
Being transforming and reconciling in authentic community
Dying unto themselves and resurrecting in Eternal Life

God do not allow me to watch from the accusing crowd another moment
A lost and wandering ghost of this world
Make in a Spirit, not a ghost
Wake, waking, woke

Herb Stone ©
here&now working poetry
May 2019

* Psalm 23:4
** Thomas Merton quote
*** Dietrich Bonhoeffer “The Cost of Discipleship”
**** Micah 6:8

She had been watching the miniscule
Rise and fall of his clavicle for hours
And when it stilled long, she knew life had left him

She who had solitarily cared for them all
During her lifetime in this one lone place
With good grace for each of them

He who had left her once long ago
Now bedridden after a slow decline
Surrounded by earthly presences

On this night lying under the Milky Way
Smelling the nearby sea
Only sound the Earth’s moan

She with a light kiss and a goodbye soft and low
He bound for some Cosmic Home
The souls of ancestors all aglow

Oh, when death comes to our doorstep
May it be as natural as caring and goodbye
And as fulfilling as a knowing kiss forever

This poem is inspired by my reading of Annie Dillard’s
novel “Maytree”

Herb Stone ©
here&now working poetry
May 2019