A poem or two

I've missed a few days of quotes. Yesterday I pulled out an old travel journal and found many quotes to share. So here's to make up for what I missed:

"Things are resting, sleeping, stirring.
The cold fire called Spring inside me" - Graham Brown

Dreaming the Real by Linda France
"I'm lying down looking at the colour
of sky falling through trees, dreaming
the real, tasting what it feels like to love it
Why did it take me so long to let go, simply
exhale, so the day could breathe itself in
and open without me standing in the way?
How could I forget the grace of my own body,
strong as this blue, tender as the white
of the wild blossom, warm as midday light
Let me practice a patience bold enough
to hold every weather, trusting the elements,
the beauty of rain, all its shades of gray
I want whatever's real to be enough. At least
it's a place to begin, and to master the art
of loving it; feel it love me back
under my skin."

Monte Jalama
"The wings of the Spanish Magpie
      open.
         So begins
            our morning prayer.
Under the bright sun swells
infinitely slow the mountain song.
Ancient god, half forgotten,
herdsman of the rain,
every stream here
      every bush and every tree
            whisper your name.
I give my feet into the cool
     running water.
I give my gaze into the glitter
     of dancing fish
          and dragonflies.
Their mirrored choreography.
The smell of lavender.
Voices of distant children.
Even the clouds
       don't move on their own."
Bhikkhu Abhinando


". . . I love to wait
for the shadows on the leaves,
to light candles
and listen to the owls screech
across the valley,
when the sun is just out of reach
and the world is a breath
of purple haze.
On a plank wood floor,
barefoot,
night in the doorway,
on the threshold of silence."
- Ayya Medhanandi