Faces
Climbing
Click for meditationRegarding "Climbing"
In one of
The Gospel stories,
Jesus is tempted when
He is shown all the vast riches
Of the world, and is told
All of these could be
His if only He, Jesus, would
Relent and worship Satan…
Whether a Christian Believer or not,
All of us can relate to this
Story in some respect, because
We are all “tempted”
In life to give in to earthly
Desires, and to ignore the
Blessings of Creation which
Abound all around us
And also within us.
In a variation of that
Gospel theme, when I recently saw a
Tree stump with fungi growing
Out of its sides like steps,
It reminded me (again) how
My own life is a work in
Progress, and how each latticed
Foothold of fungus was a
Metaphor for something very
Significant in my life, and that when
I someday do finally reach the
Zenith of my journey – – what I will
See will be not the riches
Of the world as I sit the
Roughhewn, splintery seat of the
Stump, but the nearby rock
Garden it overlooked, filled with
The floral faces and blessings
Of all that which God
To me had so lovingly and
Naturally and freely always
Provided…
Leo Carroll
September 16, 2019
Up each latticed
Fungus I crawl, hand
O’er hand scrambling to reach
The summit of a tree
Stump’s throne.
“What am I king of?”
I muse, as I finally sit atop the
Weather’d hardwood cut.
“Surely my domain
Contains naught of earthly
Riches, but just the
Love and affection of
My garden’s
Faithful hearts.”
Awakening
Click for meditationRegarding "Awakening"
My life has been
Anointed with far, far more
Gifts than it has with any trials and
Challenges which are otherwise
Names for the unremitting human condition.
Millions of little things, like
A songbird, an autumn leaf, a
Stranger’s smile, an unexpected
Encounter, a perfect
Snowflake, a dandelion, the
Love of a grandchild…
All these things and endless
More are constantly
Given freely when we may be
Thinking of ourselves as otherwise
Alone. I believe there is a
Power Greater Than We Are
Which knows of our
Existence. Each of us calls
This Power by a different name,
And even some who do
Not believe in a Higher Power
Acknowledge its possibility by virtue
Of disclaiming its very existence.
We are blessed so much in
Our day-to-day lives with Beauty…
Beauty which itself is a
Manifestation and face of
Our Higher Power.
For me, I hope my life’s
Path is a long one, in whatever
Form and realm my physical and
Spiritual travels may take…
I feel I am still in the early
Stages of having my rough edges
Smoothed, and every time I
Am bowed I am elevated by an
Unexpected gift which
Grabs me under the arm…
Like the Rhode Island lotus
Flower this poem describes, in
Its own right wondrous in its
Appearance, but, nevertheless, not
Limited by its physical beauty,
Because it, too, is always
Becoming through the work of
Creation mysteriously even
More beautiful, like all of us
Are, as the inside of us unfurls,
And our Higher Power finally
Says, “Behold My Child.”
Leo Carroll
December 28, 2019
As if at long last
Revealing its inner self,
All caution set aside,
What had been enough
Finally deemed to be enough,
What had heretofore
Been cloaked, but
Caught now in photo
As it floated upon
A Rhode Island pond,
A lotus flower in the
Faintest pinks and
Whites and greens and
Yellows, all blending
In the hues of a
Proffered heart
Given freely, and its
Beat the divine
Rhythm of the
Blood of Beauty,
The pulse soft and
Subdued, the petals
A cushion for
God’s footstool,
Whereupon the
Haversacks could be
Placed of weary,
Arriving souls.
Leo Carroll
August 3, 2019
Westford, Massachusetts
Embedded I Am
Click for meditationRegarding "Embedded I Am"
When I write, when
I garden, I become my poetry, I
Become my garden. I am
Synonymous with my
Verse and stanza,
I am synonymous with
The placement and choice
And color of my plants
And flowers.
I become what
I am creating, always
Evolving, editing, pruning,
Shaping, like someone on a
Pilgrim’s path, always
Influenced by the
Surprises, twists, and
Turns of what
Life has chosen to
Present. My poetry is
As if by the tides
Being polished,
My gardens are
Always being tilled,
And in God’s image
I am being rhythmically
Smoothed and
Rounded until …
Leo Carroll
July 17, 2019
Embedded I am, fitted
Like a puzzle piece into my garden,
Comfortable, under the
Sweet shade of a day lily and
On the sheltered side of
A leafy hosta’s pardon.
Looking into the Face of a Dandelion Puff
Click for meditationRegarding "Looking into the Face of a Dandelion Puff"
When I looked at that
Dandelion puff, my immediate thought
Was I was looking at a facsimile
Of what the Big Bang must have first
Appeared in the beginning salvo’s
Nanoseconds…an ever-expanding,
Billowing, outward scattering,
Which to this very minute
After fourteen billion years
Still continues! What mystery!
What breath to set all that in motion!
And what a breath we, too, have,
Created as we are in God’s image,
To likewise seed our own self-made
Universe, an aspect of mine
Being my meek garden, which
Sits astride one mere acre of this
Blessed planet earth!
Leo Carroll
June 29, 2019
I have seen the universe,
But not through some telescope’s
Unimaginable magnification,
But with my own eyes
As they burrowed into the
Innocent face of a dandelion puff,
Where before my gaze
Unfolded a microcosm of God’s
Creation, just like at the
Big Bang, when The Almighty’s
Lips gently blew…and little
Star seeds were sown to the far
Corners of somewhere…
Love
Click for meditationRegarding "Love"
I was recently sitting
In a waiting room in Stoneham and
Listening for my name to be
Called for my ophthalmology
Examination. It is still not clear to
Me what happened next,
But I sensed someone was
Standing in front of me and
Staring at me. I raised
My head slowly to look up,
And there was this little
Boy, perhaps six or seven years
Old, and he had a smile
On his face. As soon as our
Eyes connected, he said
Something quickly to me which
Came out in a burst, like a
Digital stream of binary
Information. I could not
Understand a word of it,
But whatever he said, it was
Obviously important to him from
His facial earnestness looking at me.
Before I had a chance to
Respond, however, a young woman
Quietly appeared beside him,
Gently took his hand,
And as she started to
Turn to lead him back to a
Chair in the waiting room,
She gave me a knowing nod,
As if to convey she knew
That for a few seconds
Her son and I had connected in a
Mysterious, spiritual bond.
Leo Carroll
February 20, 2019
I feel his presence before
I see him, a young boy perhaps six
Years old who now stands several feet
In front of me, almost as if an
Apparition he so suddenly appears,
Like a rush of wind and then the
Paraclete’s breath upon my face,
And he smiles but his attempt
To speak is garbled and unintelligible —
At least in a worldly way that I can
Understand — and then his mother
Walks up softly and takes hold his hand,
And gently leads him away to
A seat in the waiting room’s
Sheepfold … while I in my
Chair am left wondering in
Awe of the message spoken by his
Incomprehensible words, and
Why he had picked me to be
Culled from out of the herd to
Hear his vocal cords struggle
In stanza and verse?