WAGE PEACE

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, memorize the words for “thank you” in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries.

Imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

~ Judyth Hill

HAIKU 4

on the pond, the moon
a leaf, a floating petal
now, ten thousand moons

~ Elise Bedard

I CALL TO YOU: A Blessing for the Journey

Let us vow to remember the causes of suffering and to practice an end to suffering. I shall accept all that I cannot change, and let my heart be broken. May we be gentle for all our days, here, there, and everywhere. Let us vow to bear witness to the wholeness of life, realizing the completeness of each and everything. Embracing our differences, I shall know myself as you, and you as myself. May we serve each other for all our days, here, there, and everywhere. Let us vow to open ourselves to the abundance of life. Freely giving and receiving, I shall care for you, for the trees and stars, as treasures of my very own. May we be grateful for all our days, here, there, and everywhere.
	Let us vow to forgive all hurt, caused by ourselves and others, and to never condone hurtful ways. Being responsible for my actions, I shall free myself and you. Will you free me, too? May we be kind for all our days, here, there, and everywhere. Let us vow to remember that all that appears will disappear. In the midst of our uncertainty, I shall sow love. Here! Now! I call to you: Let us together live The Great Peace that we are. May we give no fear for all our days, here, there, and everywhere. ~ Wendy Egyoku Nakao