Gift
Winter Blessings
Click for meditationRegarding "Winter Blessings"
All it took was the
Meditative rhythm of the
Sound of light rain falling on
A small garden bed
Covered in old oak and
Maple leaves, to
Soothe the seas of
My mood, and then
Adding to this calming
Effect was the soft sound of the
Same rain hitting the
Mossy and mottled
Rocks of an adjacent,
Worn stone wall …
Reminding me once
Again that the gifts from
Creation actually
Occur all year-round,
Not just in spring or
Summer or fall,
But in winter when
First impulse might be
To don sackcloth
And ashes, but instead
The January drizzle
Wags its finger and says,
“No, not at all …!”
Leo Carroll
January 11, 2019
I hear
The pitter-patter of light
Rain on leaves, maple and oak and
What else lies hibernating between, and
I hear an even softer sound
As it lands on a nearby
Stone wall’s mottled moss,
Green and grey in blotches, an old
Coat from the colonial era,
But to me now like new
Wineskin cloth . . . and
Thus my ears listen intently,
Interpreting, soothed by
This revelation and nurture
Alive in my January garden,
When winter would
Otherwise harness me
To my mood, and it wouldn’t
Be until the first crocus’s
Song that I’d dare consider what
Spring’s freedom could
Loose.
Jordan Pond
Click for meditationRegarding "Jordan Pond"
This poem is using
Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park as
A metaphor for each one of us.
We have the ability and the
Potential to be beautiful,
And in that beauty, to be a gift
To those around us. The
People who walk the trail
Around Jordan Pond are
Stunned by its magnificence,
And yet it is so small, just like we are!
We live in an overwhelmingly
Complex society, and
We can easily get lost and
Disoriented in the immensity
Of everything going on
Around us…but we have
The potential, just like the
Night’s countless stars,
To individually shine. In the
Poem, the “Almighty Sky”
Reminds Jordan Pond about this,
Telling the pond to be
Thankful for the role given it
By Creation, and not to
Want for more, nor to worry
About having more, nor anything else…
Just like we ourselves are supposed
To be — to recognize our
Gifts, and to know we have
A unique role in the happiness
Of Creation.
Leo Carroll
November 14, 2018
It seems to be flowing,
Moving towards something special,
Parallel trails of bubbles
And foam implying a tidal-like
Current, cold and deep,
Pristine and blue-green,
Amazingly clear as if it was the
Crystal ball of a seer,
Trying to reach some
Mythical place, where its
Stream could join with something much
Bigger. . .all while its smoothed,
Ageless stones whisper,
“Where is the ice of the
Primordial glacier which we once
Embraced, where is our
Eternal Mother, our Father,
Our Brother, our Sister?
And where is the sea,
The sea, that teasingly-close
Amniotic font within
A raven’s call or a
Mariner’s league or
Just beyond the tallest tree?”
And then across the
Water a breeze stills, and
Become calm all the pleadings…
“You’re a pond!” speaks
The Almighty Sky. “Not every
Melancholic yearning can
Turn into the reality to which a
Limited vision clings…
Be thankful, because around
Your banks I have put countless people,
And your role is to bathe
Them in Beauty…”
Heaven’s Green
Click for meditationRegarding "Heaven’s Green"
What
Kind of green
Is this upon which I look?
It stops me in
My tracks, and over
It in marvel and
Awe I stoop! An
Unbelievable
Green it is, just fallen
From a tree, not
Wanting to wait for
Autumn, but
Content to let go
Under the yoke of
Dewdrops –
Almost too
Invisible to be
Seen…
Leo Carroll
June 21, 2018
…Perfectly placed,
As if lying in waiting as an
Offering of grace, a
Maple leaf fallen,
With droplets of dew in
Beads on its face.
O, maple leaf,
What could’ve made
You this morn
To alight upon this
Sweet grass?
Did you consider
Waiting until
Autumn, when
Your October colors
Would’ve been
At their max?
Or, was it you
Preferred to release
Your green now,
And thus be
Remembered
For an early summer
Peek at a leaf by
Spring crowned?
Morning
Click for meditationRegarding "Morning"
I was sitting on a barstool
At the kitchen counter, and beside
Me was one of my little
Granddaughters. She was
Spending the day with us, and her
Visit was starting out with
A bowl of oatmeal and
Some toast. She noticed two
Roses which I had picked
The day before from my garden,
And she reached forward
To touch them, or better
Described, to caress them.
What a gentle moment
In a world which is filled with
Such beautiful events – if
Only we would notice them!
Gifts or blessings are
Given to us constantly, and
All that is required of us is to
“See” them and to
Accept them. Creation
Works in ways which are not
Our ways…we are
Given much in our Pilgrim’s
Walk to soften the
Calluses on our feet.
Leo Carroll
June 28, 2018
Two
Garden
Roses
Red and pink, a
Little girl’s
Inquiring fingers
Feeling
Them and
Caressing…a
Porridge
Bowl and its
Purple
Spoon set to
The side,
And love,
Sweet
Love, at
Breakfast to
Abide.
Present Moment
Click for meditationRegarding "Present Moment"
Beauty is
Everywhere, but we
Have to see it,
Simple beauty,
Dandelion beauty,
Visible but hidden beauty,
In plain sight beauty,
Beauty our eyes
Are blinded to because
They’re clouded
With the scales of
Worry, beauty which
Is freely given,
And beauty which
Creation appointed to
Accompany
Our pilgrim’s
Path, when all
Else seemed to flee
Before the twin furies of
Regret about the
Past and fear
Of what the future
Could be.
Leo Carroll
May 8, 2018
And so spoke
Jason in his quest for the
Golden Fleece, and
So shouted Solomon from the
Ramparts of all his
Kingdom’s glory, and even
Inquired Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun,
“Where has been kept this
Hidden beauty,
This boundless yellow,
This brightest smile,
This dandelion,
This annual spring
Hope of ours?”