Unfinished

She walks amid the sacred
trailing heartstrings on the ancient stones
unfinished...

Together II

I cannot smile enough to make you happy
I have not hands enough to wipe away all tears
I wish I could stretch time enough to spend more with you
but I will fail and fail again, I fear

I wish my heart could hold all your heartaches
but I cannot love enough to heal all wounds
As it is my heart is slowly breaking
Here we are, strangers in the same room

My arms are not strong enough to hold you together
nor are they quick enough to catch your fall
I'm on the same shifting ground that has tripped you
In the echoing darkness I cannot hear you call

But together our smiles will cheer the sunshine
and our hands will dry the rain
Our hearts united will hold the heavens
with a love that assuages all pain
The arms of many will move mountains
with the swiftness of the wind
And together we will walk cross the continents
having realized that we - once strangers - are friends.

Some

Some stood up once and sat down.
Some walked a mile and walked away.
Some stoop up twice and sat down.
I've had it, they said.
Some walked two miles then walked away.
It's too much, they cried.

Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools.
They were taken for being taken in.

Some walked and walked and walked.
They walked the earth.
They walked the waters.
They walked the air.

Why do you stand, they were asked, and
Why do you walk?

Because of the children, they said,
and Because of the heart, and
Because of the bread.
Because

The cause
Is the heart's beat
And the children born
And the risen bread.

-Daniel Berrigan, SJ

Balance

Homeless wandering, on the tightrope wobbling, borderline crossing, all the time balancing, keep on striving, dare the dream aspiring, on the way striding, a true path following, to the edge exploring, love's burdens lifting, hope-strength sustaining, far friends keeping, all together reaching...

[which ending?]
(1) ...for who we are
(2) ...for the light and the beauty and the wind and the Word

Fragment

Poem fragment:

Restless yearning longing searching heartbeats
We fail and we dream; the dreams are dangerous.
But what living give give giving love isn't?

A way of seeing

To be revised...maybe:

We are wistful dreamers
and fitful sleepers
Exploring our waking dreams
Discovering what is, instead of what seems
Teary eyes wide open for love's sake
trudging through our sleeping wakes
Give me a vision that can see
all the things that we can be
and a mind's eye that doesn't blink
nor turn from daring ways to think
And then we may walk amidst those castles in the air
and know that the distance between here and there,
not greater than doubt and not less than true,
is simply the distance between me and you.

Run On II

E pluribus un
um, wondering where we're
going full speed
ahead there's hope to be
found a lucky penny on the street
wise kids just searching for
love makes the world make
sense seems to be missing
out of bounds and not coming
back breaking work just making
ends to these fairy
tales told by the fire
light a flame for the
future is now
present

Run On

We are
one time when the world lived in
peace is possible if we
believe me it's
true faith seeks
love others with your
soul songs fill the night
sky is full of
stars twinkling in her
dreams are made of
hope waits within
there is someone
more.

Blackwater

It's just a couple days of fun, he said,
Knowing that all his resistance was dead.
Because his task is to find his calling,
And half his soul engages in stalling,
Adventure catches on just like a fire,
Unlocking what may be his deep desire.

So packed he all the gear he might desire,
And when all his farewells were fairly said,
He drove until his pedal foot was dead,
Then drove some more, for the outdoors was calling.
And when the fading sunset ceased its stalling,
He settled down and built himself a fire.

And people gathered around that bold fire.
He saw new faces, each with the desire
To succeed in the goal each had heard said,
To live life fully before they were dead.
He wished to know them well, as they were calling
Each others' names, but he was shyly stalling.

As always, nature showed scorn on his stalling
And threw him forward as into a fire.
Events seemed ordered to grant his desire
To bond with these folks, not just through things said
But by together honoring the dead
By reliving traditions faintly calling.

So out they went and faced gravity's calling
Through waves and rocks and crests, and ever stalling
To rest and to indulge the inner fire
By diving off new heights at their desire,
And every now and then it was heard said,
After this now we surely shall be dead.

Yet all came through the fray, and none were dead,
All wiser, closer, but nature was calling:
Another challenge – this time no stalling.
The skies broke loose above their humble fire,
Together they scrambled with dry desire
To weather it, and not a word was said.

The dead fire now serves as a centerpiece,
Calling much more than any one thing said
To those stalling who still warm words desire.

-Peter Sanneman

fingerprints

it's not about
the identity
uniqueness
like we think.
it's also not about
the pretty curves and waves
and swirls
all within each other.
it's actually about
the fact that when they bleed
through the sacrifice of crafting
something disproportionately rewarding
like salvation
for a loved one
a cut is a cut
and no one's fingertip swirl differences
change exactly what kingdom
those new proud scars will build.

-Peter Sanneman

blame ambiguous

all i'm saying is,
i, frankly,
am not aware
that i scent,
according to my senses,
the specific odors which
i expected
that i would excrete
if it were clear to me
that you
cared.

-Peter Sanneman

serenity

what would happen
if all the people
who started poems
with epic questions
were duly granted
the spirit filling
that their words seek
amidst the canvas?

-Peter Sanneman

Friendship

A dance can carry forward through the night -
With passion, swooping, swinging, limbs all taut -
Supporting the spirit, lost in a crowd,
And filling all existence with the beat.
And yet a dance can live on in the light,
A head bobbing, fingers tapping a spot;
The rythym will play on where it's allowed,
Not only when it rules over the feet.
The same, I find, is true of friendships tried
And proven amidst tribulations wide
And dark just like the night the dance swept through.
For when someone's your pride and you confide
Not just with words, but looks and brain waves too,
No dance needed, for their heart beats with you.

~Peter Sanneman

Summer Evening

The eloquence of a summer evening
murmuring cicadas amidst whispering maple leaves
fireflies signaling silently warm yellow lamplight
white points of starlight against a soft blue fade

Together

You tug at my heart
a moonbeam on ocean waters
gently, constantly, profoundly, distantly

Sharing in the tides of fierce compassion
for this our thirsting world
Stirring the depths of dreams
and of possibility

I hold your hand and you hold mine
and we dive together into the unknown
to explore a realm
where we wouldn't have dared venture
alone.

excerpt from "Little Gidding" ( Four Quartets)

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

by T.S. Eliot