Poems

As It Should Be

Breath comes peaceful
bare feet
love surrounds me.
Crackling of the fire
behind
and before me.
Inipi calling gently
singing drums
within me
surrounded by hearts
who know
and stand beside me.

Breath comes hopeful
offerings
to the Father.
Smudging
cleansing spirit
gaze resting
on the sacreds.
Grandmother's ashes
Bear Robe
Sky above me.
Let your mind be of good
and speak truth
in the heart's way.

Breath comes slowly
bent
with humility
forehead to the Mother
laid firm
as an offering.
Tapping out the heartbeat
know me
I am entering
hold me in that first way
silent in remembering.

Breath comes eager
bodies rooted
in the deep earth
hands
outstretched
guide the Sacreds
they witness rebirth.
Sisters and brothers
come together
we are sacred
eyes closed
hearts open
darkness comes
and we are light filled.

Breath comes joyful
to hear the welcome
the reminder.
Let your heart be of good
my Stone father calls
and grounds me.
Greet each glowing face
they enter
they center me
lavender smoke rising
from the Stones
as they call to me.
Deepen your connection
thank the Stones
for the reminder
we are solid
we are spirit
we are perfect
when our heart leads.

Breath comes silent
giving thanks
for the mystery.
The seen and the unseen
the blessings flow
within me.
For my life
for my breath
for the gifts
heaped upon me.
For Creator all around me
the Ancestors
who came before me.
Eyes open
heart steady
I will not take for granted
one single moment
of your bounty
ever present.

Breath comes open
I am spirit
nothing holds me
I am learning
on this journey
straying from
my own perfection.
And the spirits
they are guiding
eyes open
hearts journey
see the signs
all around me
know the beauty
I am holy.

Breath comes steady
In the darkness
I am ready.
Slowly enter
my own body
so connected
so completely
exhausted
and alive
sensing newness
all around me
from within me
strength flickers
then takes flight
my own deep burning.

Breath comes hopeful
bent again
with humility.
Forehead to the Mother
my very life
is the offering.
Tapping out the heartbeat
I am born
I am entering
to stand
with the new ones
who have prayed
in this good way.
Bear Robe upon me
Singing drums within me
Let your heart be of good
For this is as it should be.

By Giselle Love

Forgive Me

forgive me

if i seem
obsessed

with silences
and forests
and snowy limbs….

entranced by visions
of trees
overarching….

forgive me if
grief and joy live side by side
in this altar, my heart….

forgive me if i forget
momentarily that mistletoe
festoons dying branches….

adorns them
with evergreenery
and white berries….

forgive me if i yearn
with all my heart
for this snowy silence….

for midnight
in the forest—
and i don’t know where the moon is….

though icy storms whistle
sometimes, through
night and forest --

every sparkling dawn
silence reigns,
powerful….

snow wraps the trees
in secret delight:
they dance invisibly….

here, the soul of
the world, unavoidable –
here, our insignificance….

here, our equality
with grub, with fallen log, with bear….
with eagle, with quivering leaf, with frozen stream….

here, powerless, hairless, weaponless –
the silence invites
our grief, fear --

welcome friend, to infinity….
to vastness unimagineable….
to love unmatchable….

this is the place
where god whispers….
and where i realize

that the answer
to all of my problems
is thank you….

Beth Anne Boardman ©2011 posted with permission


Cheyenne Prayer for Peace

Let us know peace.

For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun shall shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.






Who Will Call My Name
When I can no longer
See the Eagle soar,
Will you call my name?
When the end of my Path
I have finally reached,
Will you sing my name in Ancient Prayer?

The Ancient Ones have faded,
And few if any call their names today.
Will this be my fate too?
When I vanish and come to ashes,
Will no one sing the Prayers
And call my name?
Will you remember my laughter?
Will you remember the smiles?
Or how I would ride carefree and wild?
When I am gone,
Who will follow me?
Who will call my name?
When I have given up my breath
To the Spirit of Death
Who...
Will still call my name?
By: Unknown Native American


In the ultimate stillness
Light penetrates the whole realm;
In the still illumination,
There pervades pure emptiness.
When I look back on the
Phenomenal world,
Everything is just
Like a dream.

Han-shan Te-Ch'ing

The Forest is not Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost.

Where you are is called here,

and you must treat it as a powerful stranger

must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breaths. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place around you,

If you leave it, you may come back again saying, "here"

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost.

Stand still.

The forest knows where you are.

You must let it find you.

Author unknown, Submitted by William Goit


Pieces of sun on the lake of my spirits;

Pieces of sun on waters of eagle and hawk;

Pieces of sun lie broken on the waters of the lake

from which come the voice to all my singing, the eyes to all my beauty,

the peace to all my longing.

Above all is the long-living spirit which is the thread from generation to generation,

as long as the land we live on is everlasting and our children have a place to lie down.

all as it was, love, all as it was, beauty, all as it was, order, all as it was, in exactly the right place.

This place of the sun trail.

The buffalo-grass plain.

The hummingbird spring.

The grass hat.

The frog mesa.

And the big house on the lake where the good spirits live.

This place of my people

This place of my grandsons still unborn.

All as it was, peace.

Everything good is to be found here.

Everything good is to be kept here.

Author unknown. Submitted by William Goit

The Absolute
No mind, no form, I only exist;
Now ceased all will and thought;
The final end of Nature’s dance,
I am it whom I have sought.

A realm of Bliss bare, ultimate;
Beyond both knower and known;
A rest immense I enjoy at last;
I face the One alone.

I have crossed the secret ways of life,
I have become the Goal.
The Truth immutable is revealed;
I am the way, the God-Soul.

My spirit aware of all the heights,
I am mute in the core of the Sun.
I barter nothing with time and deeds;
My cosmic play is done.

Shi Chinmoy