Winter and Springtime Dancing
March in New England.
A little of this weather.
A little of that.
Warm weather caressed us last week.
It was—quietly exhilarating.
I talked a friend off the ledge
Of obsessively
And totally prematurely
Removing the snow tires
From her car,
In her moment of warm-weather
Intoxication.
Then the winds came
Again.
Blustery,
Blowing away the illusion of warmth.
Settling in cold.
Snow.
Rain.
Wind.
Bottom line?
It just changes all the time.
Bottom line?
What’s that great New England joke?
Don’t like the weather?
Wait a minute.
Another and better bottom line?
The light?
Ahhhhh.
The light
Belongs
To
Springtime.
~~~
Speaking of change—
Oh, friends!
It comes.
It goes.
The moment flows in.
A thousand things happen.
And then another moment
Sweeps them all
Away.
The fluidity of it all!
~~~
How much energy have I spent in my life—
Trying to change something
Whose time
It was
To
Not
Change?
How much energy have I spent in my life—
Trying to force the solution,
Obliterating the posture of neutrality,
That would,
If untouched,
Offer me
The perfect
Next moment,
In life’s perfect timing?
Which isn’t necessarily my timing!
Wanting
What
I
Want?
Needing
What I think
I
Need?
How much energy have I spent,
Wanting life to be different?
Wait a moment.
It will change,
In its own
Perfect
Timing.
~~~
In all his poetic brilliance, here’s Rumi, who pretty much lands it all in a few lines:
Try not to resist the changes that come your way.
Instead let life live through you.
And do not worry that your life is turning upside down.
How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?
~~~
Political change?
Cultural change?
Who knows?
But for our inspiration, I offer two very different songs today. The first one is a classic for us hippy-wanna-be’s of the sixties. I remember listening to Dylan sing this in the mid-sixties, stoned and righteous. Oh, I mean, I was stoned and righteous.
I imagine Dylan might have been, too.
The brilliance of this song unfortunately lives on.
The injustices we thought we were righting, the inequities we believed we were reforming, live on.
And oh, so immortalized in this song by Playing for Change, with our Brandi Carlile, one of my peeps:
~~~
This other song? Here’s a totally different vibe.
I am so touched by the longing, the haunting nature of Sam Cooke’s words, circa 1963:
A Change Gonna Come
~~~
Dear Friends,
With patience and tolerance
For our own journey,
May we be gentle and kind.
Gentle and kind,
To ourselves.
Gentle and kind,
With ourselves.
And from that platform of self,
May we offer to others
Our gentleness,
Our kindness.
And please, may all beings
Benefit from our time together.
Stay blessed,
Aruni
P.S. The light in this picture belongs to springtime.