Category Archives: aging

poem: the autumn of life/ winter’s coming

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poem: the autumn of life/
winter’s coming

suddenly
a gust of Fall breeze
flattens the tall grass
with a swoosh

peacefully
butterflies dart
and flutter
in the frostweed

blissfully
the golden sun rays
play upon our skin
warming our core

gratefully
our breath catches
walking the path
heading home

mindfully
aware winter’s coming
and light’s fading; hope is
a glowing ember in our hearts

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
October 2, 2022

photos by author

haiku: greetings from the autumn equinox

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haiku: greetings from the autumn equinox

orange flame morning sky
shuffling through wildflower fields
harvest has begun

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
September 23, 2022

photos by author

poem: loving-kindness for weary souls

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poem: loving-kindness

for weary souls

attention narrowing
deep in thought
blank stare
unmoored in rough seas

sensing distress
husband and caregiver
wife and charge
weary souls connect

gently taking her hand
and whispering
“we need some loving-kindness”
she smiles tenderly back at me

metta, compassion,
benevolent tender affection
re-centering us back
in the here and now

loving-kindness
is our healing balm
for much of the weariness
of this world

may all beings be safe
may all beings be free of pain and suffering
may all beings be whole
may all beings be loving and loved

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
September 5, 2022

photo and quote by author

poem: child of the universe, hippie, yogi, elder

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poem: child of the universe,
hippie, yogi, elderneither clinging to a nostalgic past,
nor projecting a future of sentimentality,
now resisting social norms of
emotional idealism and neurotypical
stereotyping

I, being a witness of here and now,
maintaining spiritual consciousness,
invitational presence, and attentive
mutuality, connecting deeply at soul level,
opening to the wholeness of other

we, belonging here together in beloved
community, falling upward in grace and love,
cycling through the bardo, eternally together
with the supreme in cosmic union,
that am I (tat tvam asi)

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry

August 28, 2022

photo by author

“Here is, in truth, the whole secret of
Yoga, the science of the soul. The active
turnings, the strident vibrations, of
selfishness, lust and hate are to be stilled
by meditation, by letting heart and mind
dwell in spiritual life, by lifting up the
heart to the strong, silent life above, which
rests in the stillness of eternal love, and
needs no harsh vibration to convince it of
true being.”- Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of
Patanjali

“The Perennial Philosophy is expressed
most succinctly in the Sanskrit formula,
tat tvam asi (‘That art thou’); the Atman,
or immanent eternal Self, is one with
Brahman, the Absolute Principle of all
existence; and the last end of every human
being, is to discover the fact for himself, to
find out who he really is.” – Aldous Huxley

“It is only those who are in constant revolt
that discover what is true, not the man who
conforms, who follows some tradition. It is only
when you are constantly inquiring, constantly
observing, constantly learning, that you find
truth, God, or love.”- Jiddu Krishnamurti

poem: a harsh season

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poem: a harsh season

this late summer’s day
sitting among the blooms
of garlic and petunias 

admiring their beauty
during a brief respite from
the season’s searing heat 

she nearby with a wry smile,
resting on her cane, eyes closed,
lost in a reverie 

the past 12 months
of our life’s second half
its own harsh season

 

mindful that earthly forms
wither and fade
yet souls hold their beauty 

grateful for the radical
acceptance and love
of mutual belonging 

aware that our most
high Spirit resurrects
in Cosmic harmony of All 

yes, in the late summer
of our harsh year, seeing
the Beauty now and to come 

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
August 6, 2022 

photos by author 

Author’s note: The past twelve
months have seen a string of acute
illnesses, chronic health concerns,
and injuries for my beloved. We
weather the harsh season together,
and discover the Beauty that survives
and endures now and to come.

poem: a gently healing path back to holistic health (embraced by mother Earth)

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poem: a gently healing path
back to holistic health
(embraced by mother Earth)

a tapestry of green
with mixed colors dance
before our eyes absorbing us
into the bright sunlight
outside our door

a cool breeze wraps
our neck with the shade
of the large trees
swaying to and fro
engulfing us

for the first time
in too many days
light lunch al fresco
and a short walk to the
koi meditation pool

gently setting us on the
healing path from our
collective dis-ease and
its isolating malaise to
our shared holistic Earth Home

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 11, 2022

photos by author

Author’s note: upon my beloved
and I slowly recovering from
being infected with COVID.

serial poem: the caregiver and the beloved “3:00 A.M. humor at the porta-potty”

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serial poem: the caregiver and the beloved

“3:00 A.M. humor at the porta-potty”

her hair stabbing wildly
this way and that
brushing it out of her eyes
and softly smoothing it
around her face

very seriously she asks,
in a bright, clear voice,
“do you like my hairdo?”
to which I answer, “well Yes,
I have always liked a French buffont”

silly laughter ensues,
she has always loved my jokes

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 20, 2022

photo of my beloved circa 1963

poem: writing in time of pandemic, climate change, social injustice, tyranny, and gratitude for what matters

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poem: writing in time
of pandemic, climate change,
social injustice, tyranny,
and gratitude for what matters

writing from our home
in Nashville, where we
are under an excessive
heat warning all this week,
high humidity and temperatures

my beloved and I
both testing positive for COVID
for the first time and
quarantined at our home,
we are managing

writing this now,
my eyeballs hurt,
my fever is breaking
and I am covered in sweat
and trying to control a bad cough

tragically, we are inundated
daily with bad news of
gun violence, mass shootings,
and extrajudicial shootings
of young black men by police

and all this, not to mention,
the house hearings on the
criminal ex-45th. ‘president’
and his fascist, anti-democracy,
insurrectionist efforts to steal election

dear hearts, grateful for
all of you who have expressed concerns
and who walk this journey with us,
blessed to belong in authentic
community with you all

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
July 7, 2022

photo by author

serial poem: the caregiver and the beloved ‘keeping safe’

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serial poem: the caregiver and the beloved

‘keeping safe’

there are dangerous places
in a home where the risk are high:
the bathtub, poorly lit spaces,
slippery floors, and the
dreaded stairs

listening for her to roll over
or feet hitting the floor,
ever alert, I write downstairs
in the early morning
before she rises

suddenly appearing before me,
without a sound, as if teleported
down the stairs, her visage startles me:
no cane, no glasses, no shoes,
jumping up to make sure she is whole

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 25, 2022

Photo by author

‘Checking on My Beloved’

for our beloved Cat, daughter, sister,
wife, mom, grandmom, sister-in-law,
aunt, dear friend to so many

poem: somewhere between solitude and loneliness

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poem: somewhere between solitude and loneliness

being here now in solitary existence
somewhere between solitude and loneliness
reflecting on recent events and experiences:
aging, disease, injury, separation, siloing,
the world and its totalizing systems

struggling, striving, sitting with challenges,
reconciling the grace of our being,
the preciousness of our life together,
and the amazing beauty of our Earth Home
with tender heart and teary eyes

busy, tired, and weary at times,
continuing at my task knowing
that we can bear it together
through connecting, belonging, and sharing,
grateful for authentic relationships and community

sitting quietly, listening,studying, reflecting, creating,
and connecting continue in this busy season of the suffering
arriving as an unexpected guest at my door,
each invited in and treated with truth and respect

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
June 21, 2022
art by Andrew Wyeth, ‘Christina Olsen, Triton’
Author’s note: I have struggled to write this, or anything else down, for over a
week. Knowing that sharing one’s suffering is very unfashionable in our
contemporary culture and society of everyone for themselves, I hesitate. I do not
share my poem from the perspective of being a victim, or a denier, or a masochist,
or from a place of apathy. Rather, I share from the perspective of witnessing,
better understanding, gifting, connecting, authentic belonging, and healing in the
tension of our suffering and our joie de vivre! The last three lines of stanza four
are after Rumi’s poem ‘The Guest House.”