“I have walked through many lives some of them my own, and I am not who I was, through some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray…” The Layers by Stanley Kunitz I recently returned to France from a trip to the United States after being away for over a year

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason, you sing. For no reason, you accept the way of being lost, cutting loose from all else and electing a world where you go where you want to. Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder that a steady center is holding all else. If you listen, that sound will tell

One ship sails East, And another West, By the self-same winds that blow, ‘Tis the set of the sails And not the gales, That tells the way we go. Like the winds of the sea Are the waves of time, As we journey along through life, ‘Tis the set of the soul, That determines the

“In our village folks say god crumbles up the old moon into stars.” Alexander Solzenitsyn The full moon in Aquarius tonight underscores that we are each distinctive stars sharing our radiance with the world. France exemplifies this in its own unique way. It is a country of individualists, and as a nation attracts like-minded, independent

Without a net I catch a falcon and release it to the sky hunting god. Rumi   One afternoon in late May I heard the distinct sound of fluttering wings outside the gabled end of my house. I approached the nearest window and opened it, prompting flight to a bird that cast a very brief,

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair;

Speaking of marvels, I am alive together with you, when I might have been alive with anyone under the sun… Some days I wish I could go back in my life, not to necessarily change anything, but to savor some experiences and people who are now absent. I fantasized about this during the past few

In a field, I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am, I am what is missing. When I walk I part the air and always the air moves in to fill the spaces where my body’s been.  We all have reasons for moving. I move to keep things whole.

“May I become at all times, both now and forever: a protector for those without protection; a guide for those who have lost their way; a ship for those with oceans to cross; a bridge for those with rivers to cross; a sanctuary for those in danger; a lamp for those without light; a place