New States, New stations..

Lately I have found myself empty,

like a large hall,

nothing within, only the dust

motes drifting gently in the slanting

rays of the sun.

Quiet beyond quiet,

an endless rhapsody of the sighing

winds.

No busy-ness intrudes here,

no agendas,

things to do,
not even the faint incandescent
hum of lights.

The sun suffices till dark
gathers me in, and I
set there in such a place,
and remember Who it was

that placed life within me.

I become the darkness,

boundaries blur and wink out..

and I have no

fear of this nothingness,

it is the place where dwells

The Infinite Beloved,

and I must go without anything

to enter God's Beingness.

My feet still walk the pavements,

I eat and sleep, sing and pray,

laugh and cry,

live my life, but if you were to

knock,
there would be no one home.

There is no fear,
at last.

(C) TF 15sept2010

4 Poems Written at Tim Horton's This Morning..

1

The priest hurried out the
door carrying his coffee.
His world looked heavy.

I am having a cappuccino
with the Friend, who places
the world upon my shoulders,
and it is so light.



2

What am I turning into?
Sinking into the Sea,
I do not drown.

Drinking the Wine in a tavern
I sink to the floor, singing.
I seem to be sinking a lot,
and there is no bottom in sight.



3

I speak.
You speak.
I hear.
You hear.
Do we listen?
“To what?”
We ask.


4

Time limits, but does not bind.
It passes and is gone.
We seek to erase its tracks
with pleasant little lies,
to hide the fact that we,
like time shall pass and be gone.


TF © 08Sept2010

A Matter of a Few Ashes...

The Madman was walking the road that led

away from the large city he had been in.
Its noise, bustle, and garishness
had made him sad with its shallow attempts
at amusement and distraction.

As he travelled away from the city he noticed
a man setting beneath a tree in a
meditative equipose. In front of the
man was a pile of white ashes.
The dervish stopped and looked at the
ashes, then at the man, then back to the
ashes. There was a small, hand lettered
sign in front of the pile that read,
"Thus has my ego become, consumed
in the flames of my meditation."

"Excuse me, sir." the dervish said.

The man's eyes slowly opened.
"Yes."

"What is all this?" the Madman asked indicating
the tableau. The man pointed at
the sign with his right hand.

"What does it say?" the dervish asked.

"Thus has my ego become, consumed
in the flames of my meditation." the man
quietly said.

"Ummm, ah, alright, but what does the sign say?"
the Madman asked again.

The man opened his his eyes again, wider this
time, and repeated "Thus has my ego become,
consumed in the flames of my meditation." He
said it louder because the dervish might be deaf as
well as illiterate.

"Ahhh, yes, yes, fine, but sir, what does the sign say?"

The man's eyes snapped open again.
"Look," he said tersely, "I have related to you twice
what the sign says. Now follow closely, 'Thus has my ego become,
consumed in the flames of my mediation.' got that?"

The dervish stood there for a minute or two,
then said.."Wonderful, yes, yes indeed, but what
exactly does your sign say?"

The man's eyes popped open and he jumped up,
getting in the Madman's face and shouting,
"Look you Goddamned fool! Are you stupid as well
as illiterate? I have told you three times what it says!"

The Madman stepped back and said "Oh, please do
be careful, be careful..."

"What? What the hell are you talking about fool?"

"Good sir you are standing in the pile of ashes and
it appears there are some very hot and still
burning embers in there, and I do not wish to
see you burned."

The afternoon wind began to pick up a bit as
the dervish continued on his way.

As the day turned to night. people coming
into the city commented on the strange man
on the road who was standing in a pile of
ashes, crying and tugging at his garments.


TF (C) 04sep10

Dervish Lessons

. What songs can I make today,

when my mind just sets,
staring out my eyes with a activity level.
just below inertia.

It would be like plucking the petals
from a rose just to hear it
scream, to get a cogent thought
out of my brain this afternoon.

The Madman looed at me with a
sidelong glance and a wry smile.

"So you have sludge in your pipes, eh?"
he says.

"So it would seem."

Taking my hands, he swung me around
three times
and let go.
I careened into the wall and fell flat
on my ass.

"There" he said. "You have achieved
extinction of the ego!"

I just stared at him.

"Later" he said, and ambled out the door.
From his pocket a small silver kitten
peeked out
and winked
at me.

I just laughed.
and
that
is very very
good.

TF (C) 03sept10

A Few Dates, Some Rice....

The Madman sat under a date palm eating
some of its fruits and enjoying the sun
on his face. He saw someone approaching,
and sat up a bit to receive the person, as they
were walking directly toward him. As the man drew
nearer he could see it was a philosopher
from the university.

"Ho, dervish!" the man said.

"At your service, good sir, and Peace to you."

"I have a question for you."

"That is fine. I have so many of my own,
what is one more."

"What are you?"

"A dervish, a man, a skin bag with a soul."

"No, no. You have told me WHO you are. I asked
WHAT you are."

The Madman thought for several minutes as the
man impatiently shifted from one foot to the
other.

"A bowl of rice." He said.

"What did you say?" the philosopher asked.
incredulously.

"A bowl of rice."

"That is just not possible. As a matter of empirical fact
it is ridiculous. You are no more a bowl of rice than I am a
fig tree. You think me a fool, answering like that?" he said to
the Madman, raising his voice.

"I told you I am a bowl of rice, and so I am."

The philosopher walked away several steps,
turned and walked back. "Look here, I ask you
once more, WHAT are you?"

"A bowl of rice." the dervish said evenly.

The philosopher walked away again, going a
bit farther this time. He stopped, scratched his head
and walked back to the dervish. "WHAT are you, dervish?
You are supposed to be wise, but I only see a fool, with
foolish answers."

"A bowl of rice."

The man slapped himself on the forehead and walked
across the road to the tea Shoppe where he purchased a
glass of mint tea to cool himself. He drank the tea as he looked at the
contentedly munching dervish under the date palm.

Returning to where the Madman sat, the philosopher
pointed his finger at the dervish, and again asked him,
"WHAT are you?"

"Love" the dervish said, smiling.

"Love? I thought you were a bowl of rice!"

"Well," said the Madman,

"You returned and took so many bites of me,

that the rice is gone, and when things are all

gone, only Love remains."

The philosopher stared blankly, setting down with

a thud. After a bit he got up, went back to his

house, threw all his books into the road, and

began himself, to walk the road of the Lovers.

TF 020910