Luminous white
Dinner plate
Glows like a torch
Against the tarry night sky
A smattering
Of twinkling stars
Join in the illumination
The snow blanketed earth
Reflects the light
Like a quilt embedded
with a million
precious diamonds
Night marches on
The moon
Resplendent in its fullness
Rises westward into the sky
As the wee hours of morning arrive
A dark curtain
With a rounded edge
Creeps across its face
From east to west
As the curtain
Advances across the celestial body
The color of the orb
Morphs from fullers white
To a red-orange color
In muffled horizontal stripes
Of varying hues and intensities
As I gaze upon this blood red body
A thought arises
Unbidden
Am I seeing
The Sacred Heart of Jesus?
The rays of the sun
Are blocked
By the umbra shadow of earth
The blue light from our solar orb
Scatters easily
The rays must now filter through
Earth’s atmosphere
As during sunrise
And sunset.
When the full-spectrum light of the Sun
Is blocked
By the earth
The red beams remain
This Blood Worm Moon
Heralds Winter’s end
And Springs awakening
A time of renewal
And rebirth
When hope seems gone
And evil blocks the light
Let us look to the sky
And remember
Love endures
Love persists
Love grows
When we reflect
It out!
Winds of Change
The trees
Bend, swirl
Flex and resist
They shed branches, needles
But still, they hold
Their ground
Roots planted deeply
In Mother Earth
The once undisturbed
Blanket of white
Littered now with debris
Covers the tender soil
The moon watches over
From the west
As the layers of pink clouds
Resting in the eastern sky
Give notice
Of the rising
Of the sun
The air is filled
With the howling of the wind
And the crying out of the trees
As they protest the assault
Gone is the peaceful
Muffle
Of a snow-covered world
Hold your ground
Soldiers of the woods
Shine your lights
Orbs of the sky
And wisdom
Please come to me
Come to us
Courage
Please take up residence in me
Come into all of us
Instruct and inspire me
As I dwell safely now
In my warm home
How might I resist?
How might I
Protect the vulnerable
Defend our country
And stand tall
Like the lady
In New York Harbor?
Pat O’Connor
February 2025
Breaking Open
It is, I think
In the breaking open of our hearts
That they receive the nourishment
And light
Needed for expansion
When we open our eyes
To the pain and suffering
All around us
To the injustice
Embedded in our world
The unfairness
We must first
Acknowledge our helplessness
And the pain it inflicts.
Feel the breaking of our hearts
As our eyes are
Cleansed by tears
Washing away the crusts of
Cynicism, greed and fear
Allowing us to more clearly
see the plight
Of our human family
But our broken hearts – Holy Ground
Does not shrivel
It expands
To embrace
And find compassion
For a broader human family
Beyond our borders and within
We grow closer to the divine
The source of all love
And we listen
With our ears
Our hearts
Our minds
Our souls
And understand
How we each might
Do our tiny piece
To mend the world.
Tikkun Olam.
Speaking from Tanzania
Tanzania
Emotions vie for attention
The wolf of fear is trying
To conquer
The wolf of love
As both reside within
The wolf of love is winning
Fed by Tanzania
The Holy Ground
Called Ngorongoro Crater
The Hallowed Plains
Called Ndutu National Park
The Sacred Land
Of the Serengeti
Being present
Hearing the birds sing,
The lions roar
The zebras bark
The wildebeest call and moan
And so much more
The beauty of these animals
Fills my spirit
Creates joy, awe and excitement
This feeds my wolf of love
The poverty
The children begging
The ramshackle buildings
The unknowns of this culture
So foreign to me
These feed my wolf of fear
But it is diminished
Near extinguished
By the gift of the children
Of The Small Things
Their pure, unadulterated love
As they place their hand in mine
As they wrap their arms around my legs
As they tend to each other
With kindness and compassion
The wolf of fear
Is drained from my heart
When I humbly witness the work
Of the staff
The volunteers
The benefactors
Here at The Small Things Children’s Village
I am humbled by the good they have done
For over a decade
The lives they have saved
The opportunities they have provided
I am filled with hope
In a time when it seems
Our world is crumbling
Giving the wolf of fear
Free reign
I am filled with hope!
I Saw Love Today
I Saw Love Today
Not in a card adorned
With glitter and hearts
Not in a church hosting
A woman in white
And a man in a tux
Not even at a table
Lit by candles.
I saw love
In a hospital
In the voice of a woman
Speaking for her husband
Advocating through grief-filled tears
For his final wishes
For a merciful, peaceful release
I saw love
In a young woman
Sitting beside her dying father
Holding his hand
Telling him stories
Expressing her love
Sitting, being present
Love embodied
I saw love
In a daughter
Pulling strength
From deep within
Speaking truth
Selflessly supporting
Her dad’s wishes
Bravely explaining
All he has endured
To be her dad,
Their dad
And out of that love
Expressing gratitude
For what has been
And releasing now
From suffering
Acknowledging the truth
Of what cannot be.
I saw love today
In these three women
Walking together
Holding each other up
Crying, sharing, laughing
Only they
Truly knowing
How great a loss
They are experiencing
I saw love today
In a beautiful
Hand-made quilt
Cloaking a man
So gentle and kind
A man so full of love
For these women
It filled the room.
I saw love in nurses
Whose eyes radiated compassion
Whose hands worked
With a tender touch
Whose knowledge
Offered strength
And decrease of suffering.
I saw love
In medical providers
Accepting their limitations
Acknowledging the inevitable
Despite heroic attempts
To change that path
Medical providers speaking truth
With humility and compassion.
I saw love
In old friends
Being present
Where few dare to be
Setting aside all else
And standing sentry
Carrying a magic bag
Of sustenance
Giving a ride
When tears block vision
I saw love
In a pastor
Speaking truth
Offering prayer
And compassion
With no demands
Supporting this family
Who so embody love.
I saw love today
And what an honor it is
To know and be present with
This family
This woman who has dedicated her life
To serving
And being love incarnate.
This and That and So Much More!
Hello to all! I thought it was time to pause, say hello and let you know what is going on here!
My dear friend and now co-author, Marjorie Burke, and I have completed our book! The title is Spirit in Creation: Two Women, One Vision: Finding Peace and Truth in Creation. The book is at the editor now!! Our goal was to complete the manuscript before Tom and I leave on the trip which I shall tell you about!
Tom and I leave in less than a week for Tanzania. We will be volunteering at The Small Things which is a children’s village begun over 10 years ago by the daughter of a dear, late friend – Dr. David Ross Russell. He is the person who my book, Navigating Life’s Final Journey: Conversations, Choices, Resources is dedicated to. I worked with him for over 25 years. His daughter, Bekka, began the village after perceiving the need while on a trip to Tanzania during her studies at London School of Economics. It is staffed by all Tanzanian people excepting Bekka. We look forward to helping out in any ways needed. Tom is going to give some classes on aerodynamics to the children and I will be helping with a writing group.
We expect this to be a transformative experience. We are also going to have opportunity to go on a safari with one of the staff members of the children village – a trip which will go to supporting the village and fulfilling a life dream!
I have a sneaking suspicion that my next book will be borne out of this trip to Tanzania! I have cameras ready and travel journals stocked. More to come!
I would love to hear from all of you! I am not artificial intelligence, I believe in human contact – we all can learn so much from each other!
Thank you so much for being loyal readers!
Love,
Pat
Let There Be Snow
Let the white flakes of beauty
Dance through the air
And land on the glass
In patterns of delight
Complex patterns
Artistically unique
Let them land on my eyelashes
Reminding me of sledding
Down the hills of childhood
Laughing with delight
Oblivious to the cold
Let me catch them on my tongue
Tasting joy
Nurturing life
Let them coat the winter landscape
Of greys and browns
Painting an image
Of pure and new
Reminding me
That we can all begin anew
Let there be snow
That I may give thanks
For the woodstove
The heat and comfort of home
The privilege
Of no longer commuting
The teamwork of marriage
Let there be snow
That I may breathe deeply
Inhaling the beauty
All around me
And take comfort in knowing
Spring will follow winter.
Trust
Not merely in your own strength
Not hardly
It has served you
Sometimes well
But it also has blinded you
Your own power, knowledge, fortitude
May have caused you
To miss the
Power of the Flowers
Emerging from seeds
Some likened in size
to a grain of sand.
They break through earth
The texture of clay
Or rich, pliant loam
Finding a way through
Sprouting, surviving
Growing leaves of green
Buds appear
All closed up cocooned
Waiting
For their time
To shine
At last, blossoming
Facing the sun
Unabashedly
Rejoicing in life
Giving testimony to beauty
There is power in a flower
It is not blinded by its own strength.
But empowered by trust.
Trust takes great courage
Imagine
Residing beneath the soil
No light, no air
Trusting
Your time will come
The seeds which would become
delicate petals of flower
Once dwelled
Buried in the earth
But with trust
They eventually
Sprang to life
Watered with rain
Fed with nutrients
From the soil
Warmed by the light of the sun
The power of the flower
Is in trusting
And knowing
Nature provides.
To the Mountains
I come to the mountains
From whence cometh
My peace
My wholeness
My soul’s nourishment
As the car crests the hill
A vista opens
Revealing
Forest
Fields and
Mountains near and far
From Kearsage
To the Whites
The vista embraces all
Birds soar
Riding wind currents
In the valley below
The trees
Now mostly barren
Stand nevertheless
Unabashed
In their greys of winter
The zinnias
Persevere
In contributing color
To the field
Amarinths
Stretch skyward
Their cranberry colored
Feathery blooms
Enrich the landscape
One tree
The tallest
On orchard’s edge
Still beautifies
With its cloak of
Sunset orange
Its color
Vibrant
With the frame of grey
Created by
Woodland comrades
The scene plays out
Beneath a deepening
Drape of blue
As the sun’s rays
Lower in the
Evening sky.
Are You Scared?
Broken Branch
Precariously perched
Upon your rocky
Home
A dry island within
Chilly October waters
What is your story?
You carry scars
Your bark
Has been
Stripped away
You have been
Cleaved
From your tree
Of life
Beavers have feasted
Upon you
Your pointed tip
Their signature
Now points heavenward
Are you lonely
As you
Languish upon
The solid slab of rock
Grounded in river’s bed?
Are you cold?
Scared?
Or, maybe delighted
To have a perch
To rest upon
A fitting vantage point
To watch
The Tooky River
Flow all around you
To smell the sweetness
Of wet earth
To hear the gentle
Murmuring sounds
Of water
Smoothing rocks,
Coursing along
On its journey
While you sit
And await
Wind’s next gust
Or water’s next
Rising
Knowing
It will be then your time
To join the watery parade
Once again
Are you scared
Or is there delight
In knowing
You are on
Your own path
Fulfilling
Your own destiny?
10/29/2024
Crumbs for the Journey 