Category Poems
Love Does That (by Meister Eckhart) All day long a little burro labors, sometimes with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries about things that bother only burros. And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting… Continue Reading →
Love (by Roy Croft) I love you, Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you. I love you, Not only for what You have made of yourself, But for what You are… Continue Reading →
With That Moon Language (by Hafiz) Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” Of course you do not do this out loud; Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still though, think about this, This great pull… Continue Reading →
The Sweetness of Dogs (by Mary Oliver) What do you say, Percy? I am thinking of sitting out on the sand to watch the moon rise. It’s full tonight. So we go and the moon rises, so beautiful it makes… Continue Reading →
Saint Francis and the Sow (by Galway Kinnell) The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to… Continue Reading →
Late Fragment (by Raymond Carver) And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth. The desire of our hearts?… Continue Reading →
Shoveling Snow With Buddha (by Billy Collins) In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok you would never see him doing such a thing, tossing the dry snow over a mountain of his bare, round shoulder, his… Continue Reading →
You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore (by Hafiz) You don’t have to act crazy anymore, We all know you were good at that. Now retire, my dear, From all that hard work you do Of bringing pain to your… Continue Reading →
Blessing for the Longest Night (by Jan Richardson) All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night. It has practiced walking in the dark, traveling with its eyes… Continue Reading →
Love After Love (by Derek Wolcott) The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You… Continue Reading →
Welcome Morning (by Anne Sexton) There is joy in all: in the hair I brush each morning, in the Cannon towel, newly washed, that I rub my body with each morning, in the chapel of eggs I cook each morning,… Continue Reading →
Otherwise (by Jane Kenyon) I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood…. Continue Reading →
A Brief for the Defense (by Jack Gilbert) Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies are not starving someplace, they are starving somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants. Otherwise the… Continue Reading →
The Life of a Day (by Tom Hennen) Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has its own personality quirks, which can easily be seen if you look closely. But there are so few days as compared to… Continue Reading →
Fully Alive (by Dawna Markova) I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less… Continue Reading →
Autumn (by Rainer Maria Rilke) The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up, as if orchards were dying high in space. Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.” And tonight the heavy earth is falling away… Continue Reading →
The Guest House (by Rumi) This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a… Continue Reading →
Despair (by Billy Collins) So much gloom and doubt in our poetry – flowers wilting on the table, the self regarding itself in a watery mirror. Dead leaves cover the ground, the wind moans in the chimney, and the tendrils… Continue Reading →
I Know the Way You Can Get (by Hafiz) I know the way you can get When you have not had a drink of Love: Your face hardens, Your sweet muscles cramp. Children become concerned About a strange look that… Continue Reading →
For a New Beginning (by John O’Donohue) In out of the way places of the heart Where your thoughts never think to wander This beginning has been quietly forming Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time… Continue Reading →
Snow Geese (by Mary Oliver) Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last! What a task to ask of anything, or anyone, yet it is ours, and not by the century or the year, but by the hours…. Continue Reading →