inner peace

“No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it.”  ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick


take umbrella steps
staying open-- peaceful rain
falls in crevices

pushing the peace to come
is like opening umbrella
on a sunny day

and saying to rain
you're suppose to be here now
because i am ready

sitting quietly
by pine tree, stream-- breathing green
we become the peace

no more, nor less, just
a small vibrant god message,
open to healing

wrapping selves  in light
prayers become the moment now-
as we connect souls

shining through canyons
we form a radiant necklace
garnet, carnelian love

Kate Lamberg
2/29/12

well

a well must wait for rain
before offering refreshment
to those who pass by

we, like the great well
can not give love, wisdom, care,
when we are thirsty

heavy rains bring hope
cloudy skies mimic cries, flies-
we sip wooden pail

furrows in dry soil
once again filled with pure rain
seedlings dance as they sprout

well depends on rain
we need to learn how to do this
replenishing- on our own

sitting in prayer
counting breaths as we just be
restored, holding key


Kate Lamberg
2/18/12

silence

hey, silence, why do you
sit so wisely in balance
while our thoughts spin loudly

out of control sound
tries, but can not wage a war
we put our weapons down

the question becomes
the answer, wrapped in silk cocoon
peace parade, very soon

pine trees stand alert
in their silence begin to lead
us all to simpler ways

Kate Lamberg

2/20/12

soul knows

Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.
 ~John O'Donohue {Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom}



soul knows
as clear as windows

as high as the himalayas
as fertile as lotus blossoms

the sweetest of all blossoms
grow from the dirtiest of mud

the brightest of all worlds spinning
originate from below

the earth's surface
where light is burning

to be born

Kate Lamberg
2/21/12

confidence

Confidence is closely linked to how well our perceptions match reality.
~Matthieu Ricard

content with moments
as they breeze across pine groves
confidently dancing

relaxed with movements
self-consciousness swings away
so gentle we are

stars don't ask to be seen
shine on their own pretty fine
as we dance so free

merging with what is
our mardis gras masks left at door
naked confidence

Kate Lamberg
2/22/12

kindness

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people."
 ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

kindness shows up when
we are not looking for it
arrives on water wings

in a dream i had
geese, ducks, squirrels& cats
running at my feet

each one quite sure that
it was their home; the others must
be pushed out the door

opening the door
got the geese to waddle out
squirrels and cats remain

cats resume bird-watching
on the window sill of home
squirrels still do skitter

Kate Lamberg
2/23/12

cosmic spotlight

"The cosmic spotlight isn’t pointed at you; it radiates from within you. …If we wait for the world’s permission to shine, we will never receive it.
~ Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love


not looking for the green light-
super-ego telling us when to go,

nor worrying about the red light-
commanding our stopping slowly

traffic holds cacophony-
a kind of chaos courting danger;

looking outside our bodies' lines
for answers known in the manger

peering within the soft lilac light
brightness swells, unsurpassed-

soul's chambers, as sea anemone:
cardiac muscles stretch & brighten

trust the inner flashlight
held between chambers-

"look ma, no hands"
music, as cosmic light,
spills in all lands

Kate Lamberg
2/24/12

six month soul return

rattles roll over relaxed body
the beating of the drum
reverberates in forehead
while heart sinks into rhythm

soul retrieval pulls us
like fine silver thread
down into the dungeon
those times when soul

fragments had been lost- gone
drifting as sludge through rivers
winding, wailing-- away from it's
home-safe habour's bell unheard

six month soul, how cruel to leave
just when crawling was to be learned;
eyes that shone at birth filled with clouds
then brighten at soul's fond arrival

baby born to lead makes
an inauthentic follower
frozen soul so longs to light
the path for others- october leaves

sweeping, softening the harshness
afternoon light lures baby into dreamtime
terrors, tenacious fox licking his chops
we paint a sun in the top right hand corner

ancestral song pulls up the thick blankets
while laying down, baby's soul comes flying
through the ether--through knotty pines
and braided flowers-once again to meet

her safe harboured heart-
appetite dissapated; she is coming home
to peaceful waters, waxing moon beams
housing harmony in cedar strength

cries, like dancing butterflies
never last too long; part of
the birthing song--reverberating
notes, sealing the soul as sage

bundles tied loosely in green
thread; dried herbs smelling
of the earth we walk upon-
as one baby's soul returned


Kate Lamberg
2/25/12

solo dance

i took myself by the hand
and walked the woods, both windy and cold
to peer into my original soul, messages to be told

earth hard, yet yielding to my clogs
soul pulled me to the center of the bamboo grove
no prayers rehearsed, this one would be winged in

from precious air spirits, plentifully parading
down each green and brown bamboo frond
finding home plate-sliding into throats resonance

there- the music that did percolate brought
me to my knees in gratitude to ancient song
melody repeating, words of distant centuries:

alsha mura pentalagra mantu
kesa tura basakameelo
brisona pa ta kilasaba

as sounds sauntered through breast bone
rising up throat's echo chamber
pouring out clean maple sugared notes

my soul paralleled
the gracious flexing
of bamboo growing


Kate Lamberg
2/26/12