Saturday, May 28, 2011

first light


first light
then the search for constants

what map will hold the paths
of my travels

what words will tell the story
of the places i pass through

what names will name
the people i love

what spaces will open their mouths and eyes
as they draw me into their apparent emptiness
surrounding me
with their simple wealth
as a flower draws the bee closer
to its petalled realm
enveloping it in a pollen cloud


there are conditions to all things

and even the unconditional
wears clothes

what will cover the body of me
as i leave the flower of this day

14 comments:

Titus said...

'there are conditions to all things'
What a line! I love your reflectiveness, steven. Thank you.

Ruth said...

I love the phrase "simple wealth" — that's what I want.

Jo said...

Yes, Steven, such mysteries contained within each moment. Who knows what simple wealths will unfold?

"apparent emptiness" is so apt.

The photos are PERFECT. Yep. Perfect. ♥

steven said...

titus - i see out and i see in and i often see the same things. thanks for your kind comment. steven

steven said...

ruth - i wish for much the same. the simple is so rich. steven

steven said...

jo - that's what i find makes it easier to wake in the morning . . the not knowing. steven

hope said...

Oh Titus picked my favorite line!

And I wonder if when we glance into the reflections of puddles, what do each of us really see? Just our face or our surroundings as well?

Made me think again... :)

OceanoAzul.Sonhos said...

steven, i liked very much your text. However, i believe that there are things they are only spontaneous and simple donations, without conditions.
Beautiful pictures.
oa.s

steven said...

hope, at first i see a face and a puddle. i'm predisposed to see what is. then, with grace the moment sometimes opens and more of the whole expands. steven

steven said...

oa.s, perhaps our understanding of what "condition" might suggest is different. thankyou for your thoughtful response. steven

Linda Sue said...

The unconditional wears clothes, perhaps a cultural notion - If we ran around covered in nothing but sunshine would our burdens be less would our philosophies be surface? Would I miss your poetry because you would have nothing in your pockets--- no pockets, and I would have nothing to ponder, nothing to stick on my jacket, no pollen, no flower of the day. Your poetry makes me yearn less for a sunshine suit, actually. Thank you- yearning is always a bit uncomfortable- I like being covered with the "stuff' of thought and wonder...what you write.

verification word is "shence" - sounds like a word you could use.

NanU said...

lovely, steven. even the unconditional wears clothes - how true!

steven said...

linda sue - "The unconditional wears clothes" ... i agree - that's entirely cultural, even personal. i'm unpacking my sense of being a person trying to figure out the layers of perception and relation that begin with "reality" and move away from there. what happens when we wear nothing of our human selves? i write in the hopes that one of these poems, one of these lines, one of these ideas will stick and it'll be like a doorway to the next phase, layer, stage, place, idea, whatever it is - perhaps for me, perhaps for a reader. for now i know that the surface of my life - all i am all i sense is attached to something conditional. but all that stuff is like a signpost that points to a place that is unconditional. i feel certain that working towards that through whatever means, is a good thing. oh and shence i'm here, thanks for writing your thoughtful comment . i really am grateful! steven

steven said...

hi nancy, that's what i think for now. steven