There are stones
crossings unseen
when the river runs deep.
Follow the way
know the path and me.
Darkness, the cave
still
water against the rocks
steam
draw in the heat,
chant ‘till lost in sound
found in the river’s flow.
Ceremony is the cloth
where spirit is woven.
The rite is not the truth.
The fire we light, burns candles.
The truth burns in your soul
long after the coals are ash.
You know the words.
Your feet the pattern of song,
when ceremony is done
the rites complete,
will you walk into what awaits.
Many are dancers
few can wander the river
when torrents become jets.
In a list
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 31 of 31
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This piece is another of your awe-inspiring works. Life is a lesson that can be taught through any body of water, metaphorically. I loved the imagery that you've brought to my imagination, for your words have created a setting and helped us, as readers, travel to that setting.
Love, Ari
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Thanks for finding such a full and rewarding meal when you sit at my table. I would be a poor host, if I did not try to make it so. Truly, I am glad you enjoyed my efforts. May you always be gifted with a vision and a sense of where the journey is taking you.
Love, Tom B.
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so many read you. so many look for the love and spiritualism in your words. i am just one. you
move me, Poet. you always have.
Love, Lane
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Thanks. I strive to touch, move and capture the heart, set the spirit free to try its own wings. It is always good to know I succeed on occasion. I would be a poor host if I did not provide a full meal.
I am blessed in be allowed to know I have made a difference.
Love, Tom B.
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"Follow the way
know the path and me."
This is a marvelously deep poem with so many metaphors that are there for us to be mesmerized with. Your poetry always amazes me, for you have the ability to take the heart of our souls and put them into beautiful words and thoughts. It is so gentle and loving. wonderful.
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Wonderful compliment. I only try to touch the heart. If I succeed, I am honored. Once I touch the heart, I want to open it to the wonder of the world and, perhap, if I am lucky, provoke the reader to experience it as their own.
I am always hopeful to amaze a reader. But, it is humbling to succeed.
Love, Tom B.
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I am a lover of the water. The currents of the river cause the binding of my soul. Many don't recognize their path. The stones are there for us to tip across lightly sometimes. We have to take our time on this path called life. We must find ways to settle our hearts and know the right way. Your words stir inside me Thomas! They allow me to see a clearer way. Thank you for these words on this day.
Much Love Always ♥
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU, SUE, AND GRAHAM
Renee ♥ † ♥
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I listen and try to remember that the soul of who I am listens to my mind invent its stories about what it is all about. It is a fluid dance between the wonder of being, the enlightenment and awakening of the spirit and the discussions of the mind about a material world. I try not to trip to often and land on my butt.
Happy New Year to you and all you love and hold dear,
Tom B.
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Water is the perfect element to metaphor as paths.
There is so much unseen, that must be taken by faith or find your feet forever teetering upon stepping stones or testing timidly. It's those who bathe in this fabric; who shape and mold this weave that find their way down river into serene pools. Blue
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To separate from the ego, the mind's story of being -- separate into from one's aloneness and reunite with the Source, with Being is to become fluid.
So I use the water as the metaphor, for stepping into it all without preparation, can make the loss of the story leave us washed away. Ceremony prepares us, ritual if only used by the mind to make itself more right, leds to false judgement. Ceremony prepares the one who preceives the thinker writing his story about the events. We choose to set ourselves free of our egos when we realize the lies it commits to maintain us being trapped in a material world.
Thanks for the comments. I am honored by the gifts of your path.
Love, Tom B.
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What a beatuiful truth : Ceremony is the cloth
where spirit is woven.
Lovely writing..spiritual...ancient. -
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From fern to flower, from walking to flight: reptile to bird -- the feather becomes an expression of material enlightenment. Man uses ceremony to ready himself for flight or to maintain the pretension of spirituality. The story is either the explanation or the door way. In one hand nothing has changed and enlightment is the lure to collect believers. ON the other hand some move past the structures of religion to spiritual awakening and open their hearts to everyone. Your gold for this contest is a beautiful choice. Glad you stopped by to say hi.
Love, Tom B.
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Inspiring, i will forever remember each word of this poem!
Knowing Oourselves, who Wwe are, what Wwe are, and what it is Wwe are born for, is all part of accepting Oourselves, With this acceptance comes the ability to see beneath the turbulant waters and know Oour foot sets firmily on the stone. Thank You Sir, for helping this girl to find herself and her prupose in life, through You.
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The path comes together from many starts and we often discover part before we see the whole. Be blessed and know you are loved.
Love, Tom B.
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"Your feet pattern the song." This is a special metaphor for me, because feet represent both the path and the understanding of the trek, somehow--the ache all over, or the dance, and sometimes the flight we so need. We know the words, the 'lamp unto (our) feet', but in the end, it is the melody inherent in the song that defines the path.
A very thoughtful write, full of current and truth. ~ Karen
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There comes a time when we must lead others in the ceremonies that guide them to their path. We must allow them to dance the music and instead of having the music dance them and yet open them to the ecstatic revelation when they and the music are the same.
I chose feet with much of what you say in mind. We must walk the walk and earn the goal and at times close our eyes and trust to the knowing.
May the New Year awaken the little girl inside. All the discoveries of ways and being so new that open doors to sights unseen, vistas unexplored.
Blessed in vision and love, each new adventure will grace your spirit with greater awakening.
Love, Tom B.
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Call out the name, and be you!
Great work, excellent use of verse to share. Thank you.
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It is just like surfing. Lots of patience for a hell of a rush.
Love, Tom B.
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You just blew me away! This must be saved and read over and over again. Second stanza, though a metaphor, I can truly relate to. I was 3 miles down in a cave, lost and had used every single batter. I knew to listen for a stream, for that would lead me to the top of the cave.I knew that had sent a search team for me, but I found my own way out, just as I have solved many problems in my life. Your poems are treasures!
Shana
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When we stop and let ourselves be with the path our way is a beam of light the rush of water, the song on a birds wing.
Love Tom B
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dance the way home dear, you know the route there
you know your mate when she stands across the room but you still smell her perfume.
Tamara
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You have been listening to too many songs.
I know my family and they know me. I abide in my house with a door wide for the loves of my heart. But, wipe your feet before you come inside
Love, Tom B.
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No matter what life throws at us we can weather each storm with a little faith and maybe a helping hand to guide us. Not enough realise there is always one there if we just reach out and take it for a change instead of impatiently rushing headlong on our own, it is then we are apt to trip and fall. Love, C
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The whold purpose of ceremony is to prepare for the opening, vision, gift, to make ready and bring to completion. It is never the end in itself. Even the tea ceremony is not about making a cup of tea.
Love Tom B.
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just as the river may dry up, so does the music of so many beats.
your words ring true for so many, as the rites carry on in ones soul. it burns in the eyes as one looks at another.
Thanks for sharing your great words and may luck be with you.
WICKED
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Information is passed down, too often we remember the ritual and forget the message. The river dries up and we still hop on the stones. You are so right.
Love, Tom B. -
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the stones sometimes gets too rough for us to pass through and the rital message seeps through. but all in all, our lives are too busy for us to really pay much attention to messages as with the rite rital.
thanks for sharing again
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tomisb:
You know may times I think that life has just left me hanging, and I live in disappointment, however, when I really get to think, I understand that it was the other way around, I just left life hanging as it passes by in it's own disappointments..... So, now, I just keep the music playing.....
Thanks my most awesome friend, for sharing your wisdom, and your words with me and many others here.....
Blessed be with love and light always.....
Forever, tanya
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We can hide in habit and ritual and assume we are right or take the risk of spreading wings and learning how to fly. Still it is often best and safest if we have a teacher to help us learn to see. The path of the sacred takes ceremony.
You were born to sing and fly as high as any.
Love, Tom B.
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Some people pay so little attention to what's around them, to step into the river is to be swept downstream. The path is always there for them, yet they choose the fight invisible phantoms of self, instead of accepting the truth...
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To often when we think we know we don't. The magic is not in the formula, the magic is knowing what the formula leads you to. It is a matter of whether you dance the music or the music dances you.
Love, Tom B.
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