Poems, Prayers, and Promises....

April 2, 2012: Today my mind is going on and on in several directions at once (ok, those of you out there who know me, stop laughing and saying "what else is new"...I mean it!) This evening I have a very very special ritual I am going to be performing, I am still thinking about some of the earlier things I have posted in this blog that I said would be ongoing, I am still focusing on the Poetry Month Challenge, and there's even more---but for that, those three things are the ones I want to focus on this morning, because they did remind me of a wonderful song I used to love, "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" by John Denver, which contains the following refrain:

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share

He did speak eerily prophetic words in this song, about wondering whether he would get to "see it all"...if you like, you can hear the whole song and read the lyrics here.

But for me, today, the title says it all. I have, today, on my mind, Poems, Prayers, and Promises, and so I am going to try to do justice to each of them in this posting, and see if that will lead me more joyfully into the rest of my day. So--here we go:

Poems: The lovely Poem-A-Day challenge in celebration of National Poetry Month, which gives us a prompt every day to enable us to spark creative juices, is once again letting me play. Today's prompt reads, "For today’s prompt, write a visitor poem. The poem can be from the point of view of a visitor–or the people receiving the visitor. The visitor could be expected or unexpected. The visitor could be welcome or unwelcome. The visitor doesn’t even have to be human." And here's what sprung to my mind when I saw this prompt. Here's my poem:

Don't Come Over

It bothers me
That my house
Is unfit for company,,,

It somehow says
That there is
Something very wrong with me,

That I don't keep
My home clean
And quite ready for the day

When any friend
Could drop in
Any time or any way...

I used to clean--
A Virgo
Who could pick a nit quite well--

But as I've aged
My housework,
Like my weight, has gone to hell.

And yet I know
I'm doing
All I can to stay afloat;

I simply feel
That housework
Is an anchor on the boat!

I teach, I share,
I'm doing
Many things outside my home,

And scrubbing floors
And dusting
Gives one far less time to roam.

If I don't do
The cleaning
That I always used to do

Then I will have
More free time
Just to come and visit you!

© Aisling the Bard, 2012. All Rights Reserved

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Prayers: Tonight is the culmination of a spiritual work I have long envisioned--those in the 1734 Study Circle will be walking into the Stream even deeper this night. I am deeply focused on this and so very grateful it is happening. Yes, I am a little nervous--I have never done this kind of Work with other people before. And yet, I know it is the right way, and the right thing--and I feel deeply connected with All That Is as I approach this threshold. And I am moved to share something I wrote some time ago, something that embodies the way this endeavor makes me feel:

Glamourie

Again She rises, white, distant, complete in Herself....
Once more I attempt to decipher the feelings She engenders...
I cannot fault myself for failing to comprehend Her...

Indeed, it is in Her nature to be integrally cryptic.
And the precious knowledge She withholds is not for the taking...
The message is concealed in rays of moonlit Glamour...

If timely action is required...I may miss it....
Mother...I need direct communication this time...
Or my response will honour neither Thee....nor me....

© Aisling the Bard, 2008. All Rights Reserved

My prayer is that this threshold I am crossing will honor both the God/dess and my Self, and the others who cross with me. I cannot know. But I can try. And I can remind myself of what I say often to those in this Circle...'You can't do it wrong'....

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Promises: We have two ongoing ideas floating right now, the bits and pieces of "Desiderata" as well as the ongoing "workshop" on creating your personal mythology. I have made a promise that we would periodically re-visit both these things with some ongoing commentary. Today, in light of what I have already written, a bit of "Desiderata" seems like where my mind is going. Here it is with a few thoughts:

As far as possible without surrender
Be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
Even the dull and the ignorant. They too have their story.

I have "my truth", and others have "their truth". I need to be aware, and I hope you are, too, that even if someone else's "truth" is different from yours, that does not mean that both are not "true". I use a small acronym when I look at the word "true"...I need to remember that it stands for "things really unique, eternally", because the fact is that even two people who seem to believe the exact same thing about the Universe don't have the same Truth. So--today, I am going to go joyfully into what **I** think this day is about, and not worry a single bit about what the "others" think this day is about--because, in the last analysis, we're all right. I promise!

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So there we have it. For today, here are my poems, prayers, and promises--and I know that you also have yours. This is YOUR day. Do with it as you will. And Walk in Beauty!