Soul And Heart

                INEXPLICABLE JOY
                     (for Vic Martin)

the noon sun the blue sky the cold wind
                 and this inexplicable joy
cannot be separated

                             I'm in awe by how
everything's connected         by what free
wide-open directions
              shoot forth from my soul

don't tell me it can't be true
                I know otherwise
           I've parsed the hidden maps
                             cracked the secret codes                           

two and two don't always make four
     what goes up
                        doesn't always come down
science?
it's just a complicated excuse
                             for the side effects
                                                       of miracle

the noon sun the blue sky the cold wind
    and this inexplicable joy
                        cannot be separated

I'm flat-out tipsy 
       to be born a living   breathing
                             dumbstruck part of it all

                                 ***


     Sheer Joy is the fountaining Source of the Universe, and that Source is the quintessence of each of us. When we're at home inside, one with our own Divinity, then we know Joy as our birthright--not a treasure we hunger for from this world, but a miracle we pour forth into the world. We're not born to be consumers, but Creators! Embracing and expressing our own Joy is the crux of our creativity.


         PATH WITH A HEART

you don't choose it    it chooses you
quietly as a feather dropping   or loud
as the roof collapsing on your head
either way you'll know    just wait

all is the same   everything's different
you never surrender   yet always yield
yes   be ready for paradox   it becomes
the air you drink    water you breathe

nothing seems so ordinary
nothing could be more bizarre
one day an earthquake can't move you
the next--a simple touch rocks your world!

each instant arrives sans instructions
you must assemble them all from scratch
the sky and earth will help a little
the moon can explain a thing or two

you lose importance    gain meaning
every hour your footprints get smaller
but your cracked-open heart expands
until there's nobody left outside it

                           *** 

      If Joy is the Source, Love is the Path, and Love is always the "path with a heart"--different in its particulars for each of us, but universal in its summoning of the highest purpose and deepest meaning for our lives. At the same time, our path with a heart is inescapably paradoxical. Why? Because it begins and ends in the unfathomable mystery of God.