Two expressions of the mystery: one of sudden joy and arriving, one of profound grief and leaving…

The spirit thrives and is known in that moment of inspiration, of spirit, of breath, of ultra aliveness, brought on by a sudden recognition of the mystery, the magnificent, the amazing… Poems allow us to practice that response. To exercise that most human muscle. I had a friend, James, many years ago who was dying of a brain tumor. When he would laugh during those last six months of his life, at times it also sounded exactly like a cry of grief. It was both. It was how he was leaving. Two expressions of the mystery: one of sudden joy and arriving, one of profound grief and leaving… realizing the ethereal nature of his current expression of James-ness.