Peace
Click for meditationRegarding "Peace"
Nowhere can be better
Seen the majesty of all Creation than
At the seashore of this
Glorious earth. Just even a few
Moments alone on the beach in the
Company of all the nameless grains of sand
And seashells and stones
Cannot help but
Give the startling impression
Of the overwhelming
Power and magnitude of
Creation…and yet, at every high tide,
The waves come in and caress
Each grain of sand and shell as if
Their only task that day
Was to wash each one and
To make them lamb-like clean,
As if this was the first time
And not the infinite occasion
That they were being bathed,
And no task was more
Important that day than buffing holy
Their sheen with the tide…
Leo Carroll
April 16, 2018
Washed all clean,
Like in an Elysian Fields
Dream, was
Placed a beach,
Where onto its
Sands in rolling
Fealty came
Breakers and foam
In trembling and
Kneeling…
Daydream
Click for meditationRegarding "Daydream"
One day I had a
Daydream about a small, glass
Milk bottle being placed
Against my front door,
And within it was the lone stalk
Of a flower, cocked
At a casual angle,
Simply done, but
Wonderful and welcome.
I’ve often wondered
Who placed that
Flower in a bottle?
It was such a generous
And kind thing to do,
Even if it was an invention
Of my mind, and the
Intent was only to lift my
Fictional mood…
Leo Carroll
August 12, 2018
A flower once
Stood at the outside of
My doorway, a
Lone stalk cocked
At an angle
In a simple glass
Bottle.
Who picked this
Flower and with care
Placed it there?
That remains known
To only the
Flower in the
Bottle…
The Muse
Click for meditationRegarding "The Muse"
Effortlessly
My eyes lift, drawn
Mysteriously
To a mythical, desert
Mesa, sandy-
Reddish,
Where sits
Stoically an
Indian maiden
In Pueblo dress,
Eternally watching for
Me it seems,
As if she felt
My gaze, and knew I
Was waiting yet
Again for her
To release the words
Within me born
To live.
Leo Carroll
July 17, 2018
“Find me,” comes
A quiet, whispered
Voice, female
In its sound, longing
In the depths of
A wispy, far-distant
Thesaurus…
“Find me,” and
So up the high-desert
Plain my eyes
Lift, and there on
The mesa, in
Pueblo cloth, an
Indian maiden
Sits…
Cabin in the Woods
Click for meditationRegarding "Cabin in the Woods"
I was up in the
Maine woods one year with
A group of some friends.
We were there for the
Week in an old,
Historical hunting cabin.
One afternoon,
Most everyone had
Found their spot
Out beneath some tree
Or along a stone
Wall, but for me — my
Day had ended,
And I was sitting in the
Cabin with just
One other friend,
A dear friend, an old
Friend, a long-time,
Dependable friend, the
Best kind of friend,
And we were talking
Over a glass of red wine.
As the afternoon reached its
Zenith and final light,
An absolutely peaceful,
Melancholic
Warmth settled in
Upon the cabin, and
I realized how
Sometime soon
We would ourselves
Become merged
With the woods in a
Final accounting
Of all things created…
I always cherish that
Singular moment, that light —
And, particularly, that
Friendship to
Share in it.
Leo Carroll
May 11, 2018
Gradually
Settles up’n the
Cabin an autumn spell of
End-of-afternoon, fading light,
Golden in its hue, and
Melancholic in the
Warmth and glow it casts,
And a reminder, also,
That we are caretakers of
This place in time, and
Like the ghosts that once sat these
Self-same chairs in the
Womb of these old walls,
We, too, will someday share
With the woods the
Coming final sunset and
Descending night.
Winter Resurrection
Click for meditationRegarding "Winter Resurrection"
On a cold, cold February
Day on Plum Island,
When to hold onto a pen in my
Fingers was almost too
Difficult, and on the entire
Expanse of the beach
There was not one other
Person to be seen, the waves
Continued to pound in
All their glory…as
If oblivious to all else…
And so I knew then
I could write, too…
Despite all else.
Leo Carroll
April 16, 2018
It was too cold to put
My toes into the
Water, but not too cold
For poetry, so a
Steel-blue surf gave
Way to my words, and
Into the depths
I plunged unhurt.