it is the nights
that are most difficult
waiting
wanting
for the morning
that brings your voice
it is the nights
that are long
sleepless
restless​
hoping for a world
where 1+1=1
it is the nights
it is the nights
it is the nights
when darkness
grips my heart
renders me incapable
until the dawn
returns you to me
d. james
a state of being
closed off to other
possible outcomes
a place of right
might
fight
where trouble lurks
and there is no soul
a safe place
where one finds
simplistic comfort
only in its opposite
is there any hope
or chance of stumbling
upon the world as it is
and not as we want it to be
(D James)
rummaging around the ruins
of a failed system
with nothing left to buy
and even less to sell
worrying about the weather
and the dow jones industrial index
as if it matters to our souls
and whether they can still be saved
these fallible indicators
are not merely implausible
but are “out of time”
when false gods
ruled through commerce
and promises of a better life
the buying and selling
of currencies currency
ultimately believing in a technology
that would deliver us from evil
we can only hope
there be nothing left
after the final fall
giving us a clean slate
like a blackboard
with the remnants of the old methods
and now dead ideas
floating
as chalk dust in sunlight
then
finally
we can begin
as sentient beings
neither to be bought or sold
but simply to be
in the world
(D James)
where to begin
from here
or much earlier
how will it end
in some sudden unknown later
perhaps
by the hand of another
or drawn out
over time
by some mutated
cellular replication
the future is
impossible to know
what is known
what is certain
is that someday
it will end
or we will
at least as we appear now
what happens after
the form is gone
only the dead
know for sure
(D James)
each morning
the task
is to get present
the day cannot really begin
without being present
to this very moment
I’m aware of being present
when a smile
stretches across my face
for no reason at all
though there are plenty of reasons
to smile
there are equally enough invented reasons
to frown
the smile I wait for
is the smile for no reason at all
the smile for this very moment in time
when I am connected to being alive
not the world
and my place in it
but all life
yours
mine
the 6 billion others
the trees
the bees
every blade of grass
as well as
the life we can’t see
underneath this one
the cells
and their nuclei
and who knows
perhaps even life
on another planet
in another vast galaxy
far beyond our imagination
or the reach of current technology
this is what happens
when I get present
life expands beyond comprehension
and my worries, fears, judgements, and opinions
all fall away
and I am left with nothing
a blank canvas
to create anything I want
in this very moment
(D. James)
no such thing
as too loud
when it comes
to the music
of life
you can never
love too much
have too much fun
or be more alive
then in a succession
of nows
no greater
freedom
no brighter
wisdom
than now
and now
and now
(D. James)
wake up
into patterns
of unconsciousness
go through the day
asleep with eyes open
and react
react
react
taking direction
from the small mind
playing safe
surviving
the true self
buried
under all the thinking
thinking
thinking
and the doing
and the waiting
then
for a moment
looking up
past the tall buildings
at a sliver of blue sky
life opens up
now I’m awake
(D. James)
