COSMIC JOY

                     I HEARD YOU SAY IT


did you say it?    I heard you say it    this Joy
we feel now busting out--it's enough!  it's all
we need    this sheer Joy of Being    this Grace!

did you laugh it?    I heard you laughing!   Yes!
with such irresistible play    your zany voice
drawing forth my own scandalous laughter--

a hilarity zinging from the Cosmic Big Bang!
no thoughts    words    or meanings    just bliss
here    now    always    this uncontainable bliss!

did you kiss me?    I felt you kiss me    kiss me
like the full moon kissed last night    kiss me
how grass kisses each spring when it sprouts

did you sing the One Name birthing all names
our Secret Name    which only silence knows?
yes    you sang that Name    our Holiest Name!


                                       ***

     In these gloomy, stormy months of mid-January, we can let the weather's dreariness seep into our souls. But once we realize that the ultimate Source of our happiness, our Joy, is never outside us, but always and forever fountaining forth from the inmost core of our being--then we also know we have the power to return home to that Source whenever we choose. Such Joy is our birthright, the essence of what it means to be human, and Divine.

                         SLAPHAPPY PSALM

You're not here    but everywhere    there's only You

in the rhythm of my breathing now    the grace of

Silence singing    the dance of my fingers on keys

You're the Secret my scandalous inner child knows

that Cosmic Joy for which he willingly throws away

all his glitziest playthings    even mimicries of love

You're my Clown's Face flipped on its ear laughing!

My Flash Gordon Decoder Ring    a wild Jump Start

as my soul's dead battery recharges at forty below!

You're the Apple tossed up    but not plunging down

the Ecstatic Maypole I cavort round like a holy fool

the Jigsaw Puzzle I'm boggled by    can never solve

You're a Whiplash Windup on the pitcher's mound

that tasty Sweet Spot where my bat smacks the ball

the Sting of the line drive I just snared in my glove

You're Outrageous Bliss    the Universe's Bull's-eye!

the Tickle    the Giggling    the Joke    the Punchline!

inside  outside  upside  downside    there's only You

                                          ***

        Where does God live, if not in every single moment of our lives. Experiencing Divine Presence means waking up, raising our consciousness, staying centered, savoring every instant. When we can do this, we realize that each sensation, each activity, each encounter, is Holy. When we can do this, then each breath we take is a prayer of gratitude, a psalm of praise!