Category Archives: poetry

poem: a Lenten blessing for personal and relational transformation for all

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poem: a Lenten blessing for personal
and relational transformation for all

in some shadowy Lenten corner of our
desert hearts, may we face all of our
small self-serving definitions of Creator God,
and the idols we erect and worship
of our hubris, conceit, and sentimentality

liberating our self from this wilderness,
following the Way of the Cross, as did Jesus,
the Universal Cosmic Christ, and resurrecting
into a more authentic becoming
with the Spirit

Creator God’s grace and love universally and
unconditionally given cannot sustain New Life
in an arid heart and wilderness mind,
the vine dies and fails to produce the
communal Fruit of Life

may the Divine Creator be the lotus flower
upon the throne of our heart chakra,
om manni padme hum, manifesting love,
grace, kindness, and compassion
to every corner of the Cosmos

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
March 9, 2022

images
Lotus heart chakra – unattributed
Open your heart, Paschima Namaskarasana,
Reverse Prayer Hands – unattributed

poem: the bluebird and wren returning to nest on Bird Heaven Hill are a boon

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poem: the bluebird and wren
returning to nest on

Bird Heaven Hill are a boon

neither winter’s harshness
nor war’s evil
keeps the the forces of nature
from its way

the spring season
brings the bluebird and wren
back to their nest
precisely on spring’s first day*

the bluebird inspects
its house
as the wren chirps on high
announcing its arrival

within the natural order
of the universe harmonic
forces flow as all things
work together for the good

and so our weary souls
seek the light
from its pall to
rebirth and resurrection

like the birds nesting
in the ‘lil woods,
putting our house in order
and singing the new day

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
March 20, 2022

videos by the author

*Author’s note: March 1st. is
the beginning of meteorological
Spring.

 

Fat Tuesday gives way to Ash Wednesday

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Fat Tuesday gives way to Ash Wednesday

the clown of yesterday’s revelry
finds their self alone
in their shadowy desert cell
light flooding in and a jug of water

nothing to do but to be with one’s self
giving up the distractions
and fasting from excess, reflecting deeply
our relationship with Cosmic God

confessing our human hubris, conceit,
and sentimentality, repenting those things
that separate us from God, and reconciling
with God, the Cosmos, and all God’s beloved

knowing the trials to come
dying to ourselves
resurrecting in the New Life
radical grace and love abounding

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
March 2, 2022

Author’s note: I originally wrote this poem
on Ash Wednesday 2018 and have republished
slight variations of it since. The version above
is its third rendition.

Art by Carl Spitzweg, ‘Ash Wednesday’

poem: the Zen-like simplicity of spiritual practice

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poem: the Zen-like simplicity
of spiritual practice

prepare
practice
participate

washing laundry
chopping wood
carrying water

imminent and transcendent
feet on earth, head in heaven
as above so below

within the mundane busyness
facing the forge of transformation
from emptiness to eternal presence

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 24, 2022

photos by author:
‘my laundry runneth over’

poem: where is everyone?

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poem: where is everyone?

the ninth of ten siblings,
high school cheerleader,
dancer in the band,
friend to all she knew,
aunt, wife, mother, grandmother

her dreams and memories
are filled with people
which she often
vividly remembers today
feeling their close presence

she will often ask:
where are the young ‘uns,
is everybody upstairs,
didn’t so and so spent the night,
isn’t there thirty in our group

beloved, just us two
old folks living alone;
others out on their own,
some living alone, others passing on,
where is everyone indeed

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 18, 2022

photos: 1) the cheerleader
2) one of ten siblings front
row center (only nine are pictured)
3) Grandmomma

Author’s note: The elderly in our
society face multiple challenges
when it comes to remaining socially
engaged as we age. Perhaps first is
that our culture idolizes its’ youth and
encourages maintaining one’s youthful
attitude as long as possible into old age.
This negates the value elders may bring
to our culture such as seeing the world with
spiritual maturity and offering their wisdom
from long experience. Additionally, for many
as they age, there are factors leading to
increasing loneliness and social isolation.
Some of those factors include cognitive
conditions such as dementia and Alzheimers,
other worsening health conditions of
aging, living arrangements, and lack of
transportation, among other factors. We must
do better at forming inclusive, intergenerational
societies that value and bring dignity
to all regardless of age.

poem: soliloquy on aging

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poem: soliloquy on aging

lately finding myself
taking some time off, slowing down,
being quieter, more still,
disengaging from daily routines,
in need of a hae’lan

it has been a long, harsh winter,
worldly challenges of apocalyptic malaise,
the ever present change of
aging, illness, loss, relationships,
community, belonging

not a single thing but a whole thing
needing time to face, and including
my shadow, imperfections, dis-ease,
slowing it down, fitting it all together
forming a new gestalt of Life (and death)

beloveds, yearning for restoration and
re-engagement, from this exilic journey,
to a new complementary perfection,
of authentic wholeness and holiness,
belonging together in radical grace and love

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
February 10, 2022

photo: writing at my desk

tanka: the murmuring of flowing water

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tanka: the murmuring
of flowing watersitting by the stream
silently in solitude
with mindful presence
water’s memory runs deep
flowing home to ancient seas

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
January 16, 2022

video by author

Author’s note: I wish to thank
my English friends,
Emma Hepburn and Rosie Dowbekin,
for their love of the beautiful
streams in England, which
inspired me to write this tanka
poem. I am forever grateful
for your inspiration.

Click on video and turn up sound to hear the murmuring stream

poem: and now it is Christmas ‘time’

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poem: and now it is Christmas ‘time’

time slows
and deepens
at Christmas

from 40 days
of waiting
expectantly

to the coming of the
Universal Cosmic Christ child
God with us Emmanuel

time now comes to
its eternal
fullness

filled with awe
and reverence in
this ever-present moment

standing in the silent
snow covered field
in bleak mid-Winter

stripped of adornment
travelers weary
in the cold and mud

only the
angels, shepherds, and magi
will witness this New Day

that Heaven and its Love
reign down on me and us all
then, now, and evermore

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
December 24&25, 2021

photo by author in
‘A Snowy Winter Eve’

poem: refrain to the Light in Advent at Winter Solstice

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poem: refrain to the Light
in Advent at Winter Solstice

O Winter Solstice
O Star of the East
O Oriens
O Holy Night
O Radiant Dawn
O Nativity
O Eternal Light

come
shine down
on those
who dwell in darkness
under
the shadow
of death

that they
may be transformed
with eyes to see
the beauty
and ears to hear
the good news
of Heaven and Earth as One

Amen

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
December 21, 2021

Author’s note: Today marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also the 24th. day of Advent. It is the day the antiphon O Oriens is sung. The Nativity of the Universal, Cosmic Christ is later this week followed by the Epiphany. Light upon Light! Many religions and spiritual traditions celebrate the Light at this time of bleak mid-Winter. O Orien lyrics appear in stanza two.

YouTube music video: Queens’ College Choir, Cambridge, Queens’ Chapel Players, Silas Wollston, Album And Comes The Day: Carols and Antiphons for Advent

poem: the intensity of now (where am I and how did I get here)

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poem: the intensity of now
(where am I and how did I get here)

yesterday a shadowy memory
tomorrow unimaginable
there is only the intensity of now
stuck in the present moment

past experience unretrievable
and unavailable in creating one’s future
thus stuck in the eternal present
necessarily filled with questions

answers: you are at home
where we live husband and wife
together for fifty years
now elders to a younger generation

we humans carrying on our Earth journey
closer to its end than its beginning
Cosmic Love reigns Supreme: we remain
grateful, in awe of the mystery, hopeful

Herb Stone
here&now working poetry
December 18, 2021

Author’s note: The poem reflects my experience caring for my beloved wife with
Alzheimers. As memories become murky and unreliable and the future
unimaginable, the present is filled with questions and takes on a new intensity of
being stuck in the present. What remains is love, gratitude, awe, and hope on the
journey.

photo by author
‘Gulfview Heights Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, 2017’