MiTunes 14

Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man died, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both
We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I’ve seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin’ that line back home

So much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
And wash away all the things you’ve done
Forgiveness alright

A Sojourner's Song

.....For the Traveler.....

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.

When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

.....John O'Donohue.....

Renaissance Summer

This summer, I surrender to the last longings of my youth.  No “real job” for me: but I’ll be happy to babysit to my heart’s content.  Return to the days when my earnings were stuffed into a mason jar. No eight-hour shifts at the sandwich shop spent watching the sun shift absently across the sky. No shifts dutifully covered.  No carefully planned weekends requested off of work.

I give up the stable and quotidian existence just for one more summer to call my own.  A month on the mythical continent, at a captivating loss as to what I will find, or what will find me.  New adventures in aged books.  Sunrises on the road, sunsets pitched amongst the aspen trees.  Afternoons in the blustery balm on the reservoir.  Quiet nights watching old shows, indies, and lightning storms. 

These fragments, and many more: like the fin of a pinwheel, or a set of painted toes; the sound of a pigeon cooing in the morning, the still-cool breeze whisking through my open window.  I gift myself one summer to bask amongst the scruples; immeasurable, intense, and  invisible.

  And I call it a renaissance because I endeavor to immerge renewed.