Peace
Noticing
Click for meditationRegarding "Noticing"
There is
Something
Inherent
About a heron,
Visually so
Quiet, so
Observant,
So unassuming in
Its walk, so
Wonderful in its
Flight, the
Unobtrusive
Observer of all
Things
Around,
Not just in
Curiosity, but
In hope something
Lost should
E’er return and
Be found…
Leo Carroll
October 14, 2018
…A heron,
Pensive, perfectly still,
Stoic on a dock,
Waiting for
What the boardwalk
Brings, be it
Lady or her
Glass
Slipper or
Simply the
Lingering scent of an
Unforgettable
October
Dream…
Yarmouth Heaven
Click for meditationRegarding "Yarmouth Heaven"
The Kingdom of God
Resides quietly within us, but we do
Not have to search very far
On this earthen plane to see
A physical replica of its ramparts,
Or to experience its
Transformative peace.
Such manifestations of the
Kingdom occur around us in
The day-to-day beauty of Creation,
Even in a photograph of the
Beauty of Creation, such
As when I was recently shown a
Picture of a wonderful
Vista in the Cape Cod town
Of Yarmouth. Beauty
Is certainly in the eye of the
Beholder, and the eye
Which took the photograph
Saw it…and thankfully shared
Its splendor and heavenly
Message with me.
Leo Carroll
October 3, 2018
And so there in front of me —
Pink-sprinkled rosa rugosa — that sweet,
Wild shrub which blooms best
At the edge of a salt sea…and then
Beyond it, a sailboat at ease,
With a channel buoy guiding blue
Waters into the safe sheepfold and harbor of
Psalm Twenty Three…and then e’en
Further beyond, in the perfect image
Of September on ol’ Cape Cod,
A little beach beckoning, hoping in
Awe my thoughts to pause.
Sailboat
Click for meditationRegarding "Sailboat"
To be free,
To be carried by the wind
Uncaringly, to
Cast your lot with
Fate and to let the tides
Caress you with
No fear, because you
Have decided to
Be free, the air in your
Hair and the
Air imbibed like
Quenching, wheat beer…
Ah, yes, free,
Answering to no one
But Mariah the Wind, and she
Turns her gaze
Towards you and asks,
“Why not come
Here, where the sails
Are topped for your life
To live?”
Leo Carroll
July 9, 2018
There rides my
Daydream, sailing towards and
Away from me,
Gracefully,
Effortlessly,
And then gone it is
Beyond a jutting shoreline,
Where it disappears
For a moment behind
A teasing veil…but then back,
I see it, back, tacking
Towards a little
Summer isle, appearing
To slow offshore
A small, sandy beach,
Contemplating,
Pausing, deciding whether
To dip its masts
Towards me — and from
Afar show a
Promising smile!
In Retrospect, Ode to Walden Pond
Click for meditationRegarding "In Retrospect, Ode to Walden Pond"
The only way I can
Describe Walden Pond is to say that
It exists, but its existence
Is more like a dream, or a daydream, or better
Still – like something make believe,
Maybe like the magical movie,
“The Wizard of Oz,” where
Judy Garland dances
And sings her way through every
Fantastical landscape
And situation.
Walden Pond seems…
Well, perfect! That is the
Only way it can be
Described, a place for
All seasons, all depths and
Fathoms and temperatures of its
Peridot waters, all shapes
And hues of its leaves,
All hopes and possibilities
As they lead down rough-hewn
Stone steps to the water’s edge,
All laughs and wishes,
All lightheartedness, all hopes,
All, all…and it is found in
Concord, year round, every year, and
Even in darkest winter it is
A wonder, at cold sunset,
At anytime, because as
Dorothy says to Toto,
“I’ve a feeling we’re not in
Kansas any more…”
Leo Carroll
May 12, 2018
If I never swim again,
At least once in your sweet waters
I will have done…
I will have felt the joy
And rush of your precious
Peridot, and know
In your fathoms I was
Made welcome.
Even now in winter, with
Your surface iced-o’er
And cold become,
In my mind lives my first dive,
When I felt the summer
Warmth of the
Beauty I plumbed…
Being
Click for meditationRegarding "Being"
I am coming
To realize that in this
Wood I am seeing my reflection,
Everywhere, in the form
Of leaves and trees
And inaudible
Whisperings, animate
And inanimate, in God’s
Image, all things
And me, beauty
Surrounded by beauty,
Change surrounded by change,
Life and death
In tandem, and seen
E’en in the faces of
Brittle hues on mottled,
Genuflected, leafy
Knees…
Leo Carroll
August 7, 2019
So here I am,
Where immersed in this
Grove of almighty
Pines and beech I sit,
Peaceful, as long as lasts the
Glory of this instant…
In sync I am, and putting up
No resistance like
Autumn leaves – simply
A pilgrim on the path
To crinkled dust, and
Carried by the wind on
The carpet of
Creation’s love…