Love
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Hopi Prayer
This summer I hope to visit the place I scattered my mom’s ashes 26 years ago, near the foot of Neahkhanie Mountain on the Oregon coast. Standing in the wind above the sea, I will be sure to remember this Hopi Prayer. “Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. Continue reading
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Remember
Meanwhile, the wind blows, incredibly. The sun rises – seen or unseen – and moves across the sky, incredibly. Water covers most of the planet. Effervescent laughter is remembered. The vast silence of the world helps quiet the noise of your mind. The great emptiness fills you up and calms your heart. Do not be Continue reading
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Humble Warrior
For many long years, sleep did not come. Now it is here, a sanctuary, an unremembered temple of well-fed lions. Summer comes, undeniable as the needs of body and soul. We peel away her nightdress, and when she goes we go with her. There will still be times we do not feel supported by the Continue reading
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Dreamdust
A dream of bamboo groves and flickering candles. A dream of sitting in meditation, of the alchemy of bees bringing about the reality of honey. A dream of desire, awake and alive, of a sanctuary of sleep like a temple of wed-fed lions, of a heart containing both fire and calm understanding. A dream of Continue reading
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Yard Work
Let me tell you now how much I will miss you. Let me not spend another moment wandering the world with words unspoken. Let me not wait until you are gone, as I have waited with so many now lost from me, and narrowed my eyes as withered chances blew past my flushed cheeks, lifted by a sudden Continue reading
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Just Know
Just know that you are the master of the singing bowl, the viscous ripples in the air, the temple in the clouds and mist. Know you are the heart that leads the way, the swan who dives, the moon in May. Just know you are the artist, the canvas, the muse. Know you are the Continue reading
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Omphalos
My fires are so thirsty, the hunger drinks itself. Transcendent wheel turning, at once groaning and soundless. I speak the language of rounded stones, spoken at the navel of the world. At times I cannot even reach you. At times I scoop you up to ride across the world in the cups of my Continue reading
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Light My Way
May my heart light my way. May it come into a place not unlike the narrow line that exists between water and fire, a pocket of stillness where both forces are within reach. Then I could learn their ways, how to call on them, how to let them enter me, how to recognize which one Continue reading
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Let Me Become
Let me become a master of listening, a student of surrender. May a strong and blossoming tree grow from the root of all my fears, a tree with the innate knowledge of how to bend with the wind. I have much to learn from the ferryman who spends his life taking people across the river, Continue reading
C.M. Rivers 