Poetry…

Someone asked me what is the point of poetry and from her emptiness, I spoke…

That wealth may not be amassed by mere words,
but only the riches of gentle thought,
that our own tears may flow together
with the rest of humanity.

That our small light may bring light
to someone else’s darkness.
That our depth of understanding
may lift someone out of their own inner chaos
and reacquaint them with joy.

So that wounded mortals will rise
on tides of loveliness
like flowers blossoming in the darkness
because we have helped them belong
to the beauty of everything with words.

It is sunshine and even rain that
enables us to flourish.

No, our words have not brought us great wealth
like dollars or rubles.
We have not chased after such things,
rather we have found the lonely
and the afflicted
in far corners of the earth
and we have fed their souls
with loving kindness
and the magic of words.

Words fly to them on wings of faith,
like prayers,
unfettered by ambition or greed.

Words have the power to bring us back to life
and reconnect us to the divine,
and to reawaken our higher selves.

No, my friend poetry has not brought money
into the coffers,
but rather it has brought contentment,
a true wealth of faith made whole.

It has brought us friends who love
just because love is their way.

It has brought watercolor pictures into the minds-eye.
The riches of poetry are plain to see,
they encircle the globe.

You read books but not poetry,
have you become wiser
and more compassionate from these?

Search your heart for the meaning of life,
Search the archives of great poets
such as Rumi and Rainer Maria Rilke
and you will find joy and sorrow entwined.

You will find prophecy and wisdom
beyond what time ever imagined.
You will see through the eyes of great suffering and joy
and you will meld with the light of every being.

You will become a blend of heaven and earth.
Poetry is a message beyond the veil,
a channel of something more beautiful
than can be bought with money.

If you can’t find meaning in poetry that’s okay,
your time has not yet come,
for you are not ready to behold the loveliness
that resides deep inside you and enfolds you everyday.

Everything in this world will pass away
but love will remain
and the articulate ones, the sages,
the ones fluent in mystical things
will recite the most beautiful stories
your heart cannot imagine.

Go with them into the glory of what is, and is to come…
All you need is a spark to rekindle
that which you were born to recognize with your heart…

I wrote this a year ago and it still feels relevant!