Poems for Mindfulness

“Allow” by Danna Faulds

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.

Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak –
fear, fantasies, failures, and success.

When loss rips off the doors of the heart
or sadness veils your vision with despair,
practice becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your known way of being,
the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.

“Talking to Grief” by Denise Levertov

“Talking to Grief” by Denise Levertov

Ah, grief, I should not treat you
like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door
for a crust, for a meatless bone
I should trust you.
I should coax you
into the house and give you
your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on,
your own water dish.

You think I don’t know you’ve been living
under my porch.
You long for your real place to be readied
before winter comes.

You need
your name,
your collar and tag. You need
the right to warn off intruders,
to consider my house your own
and me your person
and yourself
my own dog.

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“Coconut” by Paul Hostovsky from Bird in the Hand

Bear with me I
want to tell you
something about
happiness
it’s hard to get at
but the thing is
I wasn’t looking
I was looking
somewhere else
when my son found it
in the fruit section
and came running
holding it out
in his small hands
asking me what
it was and could we
keep it, it only
cost 99 cents
hairy and brown
hard as a rock
and something swishing
around inside
and what on earth
and where on earth
and this was happiness
this little ball
of interest beating
inside his chest
this interestedness
beaming out
from his face pleading
happiness
and because I wasn’t
happy I said
to put it back
because I didn’t want it
because we didn’t need it
and because he was happy
he started to cry
right there in aisle
five so when we
got home we
put it in the middle
of the kitchen table
and sat on either
side of it and began
to consider how
to get inside of it

Partner Gazing

dreamstime_s_12658279 Out beyond our ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a field
I will meet you there
When the soul lies down in that grass
The world is too full to talk about
Ideas, language, even the words each other
Doesn’t make any sense.

Rumi

(Working with a partner, take turns either with a hand on their back or shoulder or gazing at them with their eyes closed, then switch)

Know that this person before you has had the full range of human experience
They have known joy and they have known sorrow
They have known grief

They have known success and they have known failure
They have been praised and they have been blamed
There have been times of gain and times of loss

They have known sickness and they have known health
They have known bodily pain and they have bodily pleasure
They have known agitation and they have known calm

They have known love and they have known hatred
They have known friendship and they have known loneliness
They have known passion and they have known indifference

They have known loyalty and they have known betrayal
They have known kindness and they have known cruelty
They have known beauty and they have known ugliness

There are things that they are proud of and things they are ashamed of
They have known fear and they have known courage

All the experiences that a human being is capable of this person has probably known.
The circumstances may have been different, but the feelings much the same.

(It is helpful to end with awareness of breath or loving kindness meditation)

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Uh Huh by Holly Near

I feel so sad…ah ha
I feel so bad…ah ha
I feel so mad…ah ha – Breathe in, breathe out

My mind is here..ah ha
My mind is there…ah ha
Life is unfair….ah ha – Breathe in, breathe out

I feel so blue…ah ha
Too much to do…ah ha
I’m blaming you…ah ha – Breathe in, breathe out

It moves so fast…ah ha
And nothing lasts…ah ha
Just let it pass…ah ha – Breathe in, breathe out

I want to kill..I want to kill
Afraid I will…afraid I will
Try to be still…try to be still – Breathe in, breathe out

Come back to here…ah ha
Let go of fear…ah ha
My mind is clear…ah ha – Breathe in, breathe out

I feel so sad
I feel so bad
I feel so mad – Breathe in, breathe out…AHHHH HAAAA