Something Undying

Water, author of the undying flow

Like Mother’s rivers, you carry what will grow

From far away where eyes can’t see

To another foreign sea

What is moved has no roots

It’s pulled by a falling

It’s pulled by some calling

It’s pulled by an unquenching

Thirst at the mouth of where it first came to be

Belly turning whispers into words

Without ever promising, what is born is birthed

From under skin and underground

To the air that carries sound

It will never let you down

It’s open without end

It’s open, transparent

It’s black in the distance

The space that’s just to far away to see

Two eyes try, try, through traveling, to find

Not what can be seen, but sight

Every wonder holds it all

A breathing man or a stalk of straw

Nothing’s larger than another

We’re wells without end

We’re wells a-drinkin’

From something undying

August 2011, France
This song was written at the end of a walking pilgrimage. All around was the sound of a river, moving. Children were swinging & yelling & playing below the little stone wall where I was sitting with the guitar, green life growing all around.

The "yatra (pilgrimage) without walls" is our life. From birth to death, walking, following a lineage of evolution... Sharing this experience with others... Amidst & part of the grand mystery we call Nature, infinitely creative & innovative, renovative.

I fell asleep during one guided meditation that began with a short story about a "difficult" student. Instead of telling the child everything he was doing "wrong," the teachers decided to, one by one, say to him: "You belong." When I woke up, I opened my eyes & saw the immense sky above me. My whole body was immersed in the ground. Tears came to my eyes because I felt I belong here - in Life, on this planet, as part of the great creative process. When I looked into the eyes of others, I saw the Life in them. For me, this is the meaning of family. And home is where we are always - in the space between birth & death, before & after.

Thank you to everyone who gave their time & energy to the yatra, for your support & inspiration.

http://dharmayatra.org/
http://www.insightmeditation.org/index.php/welcome/eng/yatra

Waitin' on a Dragon

I’m waitin’ on a dragon

Found a penny in the dust

This mornin’, when I was sweepin’

The year I was born stickin’ out of its crust

He hasn’t called me back

& I found my old flame

Just barely scrapin’

But smilin’ through the game we all call life

Is this what you are?

Can you fly when you’re on fire?

Can you fly when you’re a storefront sweeper?

Can you fly on good luck?

Can you be there?

I’m waitin’ on a dragon

To find a way to be found

But I’m not searchin’

For pennies or ways in the dust on the ground

She hasn’t been called by

Her own throat’s flame

But she’s awake enough

To play this little game we all call life

Is this what you are?

So you turn wild, like a city star

So you turn wild, like a spark in the dirt

So you turn wild when you’re born, now revert

Are you waitin’ on a dragon?

I was working at a health food store in Kensington Market the fall of 2007.

A year later, I was happy to realize the song wasn't true anymore!

I felt I was doing what I had to be doing, at exactly the right place & time.