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Gifted

___________________

GIFTED

A new friend came and

Scrupulously shoveled snow.

My heart was opened.

- CA

Wings

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Prayer:

Dear God, give me air
To make lighter
The weight
We all feel
That covers up
The perfection
You gave us
As your gift.

—

Love,
Cathy

Solstice

________________

HAIKU FOR SOLSTICE:

***

THAT LIGHT!  She be comin’..

YES, she be very nearby…

AIN’T WEARIN’ A STITCH!

————-

-C.A.

Hidden Tears

HIDDEN TEARS

You’re in there I know,

Hunkered down somewhere between

What’s here and what’s gone.

—–C.A. Oct. 2009

It Doesn’t Interest Me

This is a favorite poem:

DECLARATION OF NON-INTEREST

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love. for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with JOY. mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “YES!”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand at the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

—Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

Layers of a Day

TODAY

Fall seems energized

In yellow and violet.

She waits to lie down.

Put Yourself Down

 

 

CHAIR

 

Put yourself down here

So I can tell you that you

Know more than enough.

 

 

                                         – CA 2009

Rain

 

It rained here last night.  ALL night.  Big,  gigantic deal  ’round these high-desert parts……

 

 

RAIN

 

She kept doing it!

All night without a let up

She took my tears back.

 

 

                                    -Cathy Aten August 2009

Get Dressed

 

 

GET DRESSED

 

Slide out of bed now.

Give all your coveted stuff away.

Nothing becomes you.

 

 

 

                                                                 -C.A. July 2009

Either/Or

 

 

 

EITHER/OR

 

Either weakness thrives

Or I woo something larger.

More interesting.

 

 

                                               – Cathy Aten July 2009

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