Yesterday’s Skies

where are the clouds from yesterday's skies?
water does not hold them
reflections leave no footprint
on the golden edge of dawn

under the rose bush
faded petals fall
carpet the garden
where does winter hide?
beyond the cliffs where fallen dreams gather
and swirl
eddies of emptiness
lose their edges
an echo's dream
sings songs of love
brushed with burning shadows
the last light of hope
blows away
your silhouette
a memory
consumed in waves of flame

no one is lost in the arms of no tomorrow
slip knot of love
erases itself

push and suck of tides
heartbeat of the sea
there is no shore
and no one to rest
joy and sorrow bleed into each other
the pulse of love
folds into itself
disappears without a shadow
burning in the midnight sun


no one to escape
and no one to be free
no inside or outside
nothing to get
and no one to get it
no here nor there
nor anyone to travel

all separation is illusion
illusion is illusion

enlightenment is the dream
anything said paints the dream
all there is is this
and not even that

when imaginary separation is no longer believed
it is the end of the feeling of separation
self and time and all thingness never was
imaginary separation cannot erase itself

this is not the end of the dream
not believing in the dream is the dream as well

there is nothing but the dream
we are the dream
as outside and inside
like all this and that
is made up

enlightenment is not a belief or understanding or philosophy
it cannot be taught or learned or shared
for there is no one singing
and no one listening
it is the utter and complete end of you and me and love
the end of belief and feeling of solidity
is not the end of the dream
it is the dream as well

all of life happens utterly spontaneously
no one or thing makes it happen
it does not arise out of nothing or emptiness or god
life does itself
and looks and feels like anything at all
neither good nor bad nor in-between
nothing can be added...
where would it come from?
can you find an edge?
nothing can be taken away
where would it go?

there are no things
or non things
there is no outside to the dream
or inside
as inside and outside like all this and that
are the dream
made up
trying to escape or accept the story
is the story

all these words paint the dream
the flowing thought dream
of a you who is surrounded by separate things
and lives in a world of time
and you're getting closer and closer
to this imagined future
this dream of enlightenment
have you ever found a next?

perhaps you have been told to let thoughts and feelings flow
is there a someone separate from thought and feeling?
can you find the beginning and end to a thought or feeling
are there separate thoughts and feelings?

perhaps you have been told to accept what is going on
can you find a you outside of what is going on?

perhaps you have been told to be awake to what is going on
when has there ever been a someone separate from what is going on?
if it feels like you are not awake to what is going on
that is what is going on
if it feels like there is a you separate from what is going on
that is what is going on

all instructions assume that there is a way out of the dream
all methods and practices merely seem to substantiate the painful illusion of a self who has personal volition, who can do or not do something or nothing to get this
but you are the looking for an idea
you are the seeking
there is nothing to get
and no one to get it
this is it, coyote
and not even that

enlightenment has nothing to do with you



late moon
shallow wind
echoes alight on shadow's breath

still pond
heavy with night
slowly slowly
reflections delicately kiss
ripples spiraling ever outward
sliding over and under and through each other
reverberations of memory
ever expanding parentheses
all is lost in shades of darkness
sun never finds a place to rest
bleeds into its own reflection

what never happened
what never will
all shadows
burst into flame
fire burns itself

love is the dream
of merging into each other
we are echoes burning
silhouettes of fire
light pouring into light


empty vault of sky
pours through you
there are no shadows to be gathered
in the wasteland of time

how deep is the echo that ransacked your heart?
how wide the canyon that separated you from love?

plunging headfirst into the great abyss
you see your reflection
the great maw of nothingness
wears your beautiful smile

no one wanders the beaches
of this shoreless sea
diaphanous orbs sail across the shimmering sky
slide into their own reflections
the fairy tale of sleeping
and awakening
ends

murmuration blooms and falls apart
sweeps across the vacancy of evening
stars have no name or number
no light is looked for or found
footsteps made of sand
dissolve into sand
wind dances
dissolves into wind


early morning like leftover dusk
darkness breathes
the song of day
suspended in the scent of moon Lilly
finch songs bathe in golden shadows

no one fell into the chasm of dreams
where eternity slept
waiting for her lover
never was a dream that time forgot
while she was dancing in the shadows
of yesterday's sky

tomorrow another day dream
written with memory
these very lines
and squiggles and curves
vowels and consonants like love letters
strewn across the vastness
sent by no one
to no one
crumpled dreams
paper candy wrappers
flowers in the tumbleweeds
trembling in the morning wind

a thousand songs ago
my heart exploded into infinite sky
and there is no one waiting
for its return



slowly slowly
golden leaf spins
caught in autumn shower

petals of your heart fell
one after another
until you could no longer find
a love you longed to hold
but could never name
memories pressed between the pages of time
cannot blossom

flowers explode inside your empty chest
exquisite the thorns that pierce your tenderness
all ideas of love bleed into the dream
river of tears
has no wetness

whose eyes weave the new dawn
and gaze upon the garden
surly they are not owned
nor this love
bathing in this splendiferous naked sky



sunlight pours through cliffs of wind
solidity of joy and sorrow crumble
butterfly seems to catch the light
blossoming iridescence
flies in and around the daydream
that it is

infinity faceted gems
spin
weaving and unweaving this flowing tapestry
that neither moves nor remains still
without a place to land
cascades of dream fragments
fall apart
the hand that tried to grasp it
was it
the teller of the story
is the story

moon cannot hide in its own shadow
flowers do not desire to see their own beauty
yet the flame burns itself
pierced by her own aloneness
it was no longer hers

she was the ache for color
the hum of the night
and the longing for day
painting rainbows on the window
her tears were no longer hers
as she watched the colors flow
she disappeared into the flowing
and never looked back
there was no back
nor anyone to look


words cannot be held
inside your mouth
inside your chest
they paint the inside
and outside
of all things

trace of moon spills into dawn
erases the kiss of shadows
blooming
and receding
into night

pirouette of light and dark
sank in the garden pond
where your reflection waited
for you to appear

longing to drown in light
it burnt the inside and outside
of your shadow

your footprints
melted into earth
your echo
faded into sky
no image was left in the mirror
there was no one looking

all sides fell through the looking glass
as it shattered into infinite reflections
these very words
seem to capture edgeless-ness
trying to catch them
you bleed

where are the clouds from yesterday's skies?
water does not hold them
reflections leave no footprint
on the golden edge of dawn

under the rose bush
faded petals fall
carpet the garden
where does winter hide?
beyond the cliffs where fallen dreams gather
and swirl
eddies of emptiness
lose their edges
an echo's dream
sings songs of love
brushed with burning shadows
the last light of hope
blows away
your silhouette
a memory
consumed in waves of flame

no one is lost in the arms of no tomorrow
slip knot of love
erases itself

push and suck of tides
heartbeat of the sea
there is no shore
and no one to rest
joy and sorrow bleed into each other
the pulse of love
folds into itself
disappears without a shadow
burning in the midnight sun


no one to escape
and no one to be free
no inside or outside
nothing to get
and no one to get it
no here nor there
nor anyone to travel

all separation is illusion
illusion is illusion

enlightenment is the dream
anything said paints the dream
all there is is this
and not even that

when imaginary separation is no longer believed
it is the end of the feeling of separation
self and time and all thingness never was
imaginary separation cannot erase itself

this is not the end of the dream
not believing in the dream is the dream as well

there is nothing but the dream
we are the dream
as outside and inside
like all this and that
is made up

enlightenment is not a belief or understanding or philosophy
it cannot be taught or learned or shared
for there is no one singing
and no one listening
it is the utter and complete end of you and me and love
the end of belief and feeling of solidity
is not the end of the dream
it is the dream as well

all of life happens utterly spontaneously
no one or thing makes it happen
it does not arise out of nothing or emptiness or god
life does itself
and looks and feels like anything at all
neither good nor bad nor in-between
nothing can be added...
where would it come from?
can you find an edge?
nothing can be taken away
where would it go?

there are no things
or non things
there is no outside to the dream
or inside
as inside and outside like all this and that
are the dream
made up
trying to escape or accept the story
is the story

all these words paint the dream
the flowing thought dream
of a you who is surrounded by separate things
and lives in a world of time
and you're getting closer and closer
to this imagined future
this dream of enlightenment
have you ever found a next?

perhaps you have been told to let thoughts and feelings flow
is there a someone separate from thought and feeling?
can you find the beginning and end to a thought or feeling
are there separate thoughts and feelings?

perhaps you have been told to accept what is going on
can you find a you outside of what is going on?

perhaps you have been told to be awake to what is going on
when has there ever been a someone separate from what is going on?
if it feels like you are not awake to what is going on
that is what is going on
if it feels like there is a you separate from what is going on
that is what is going on

all instructions assume that there is a way out of the dream
all methods and practices merely seem to substantiate the painful illusion of a self who has personal volition, who can do or not do something or nothing to get this
but you are the looking for an idea
you are the seeking
there is nothing to get
and no one to get it
this is it, coyote
and not even that

enlightenment has nothing to do with you



late moon
shallow wind
echoes alight on shadow's breath

still pond
heavy with night
slowly slowly
reflections delicately kiss
ripples spiraling ever outward
sliding over and under and through each other
reverberations of memory
ever expanding parentheses
all is lost in shades of darkness
sun never finds a place to rest
bleeds into its own reflection

what never happened
what never will
all shadows
burst into flame
fire burns itself

love is the dream
of merging into each other
we are echoes burning
silhouettes of fire
light pouring into light


empty vault of sky
pours through you
there are no shadows to be gathered
in the wasteland of time

how deep is the echo that ransacked your heart?
how wide the canyon that separated you from love?

plunging headfirst into the great abyss
you see your reflection
the great maw of nothingness
wears your beautiful smile

no one wanders the beaches
of this shoreless sea
diaphanous orbs sail across the shimmering sky
slide into their own reflections
the fairy tale of sleeping
and awakening
ends

murmuration blooms and falls apart
sweeps across the vacancy of evening
stars have no name or number
no light is looked for or found
footsteps made of sand
dissolve into sand
wind dances
dissolves into wind


early morning like leftover dusk
darkness breathes
the song of day
suspended in the scent of moon Lilly
finch songs bathe in golden shadows

no one fell into the chasm of dreams
where eternity slept
waiting for her lover
never was a dream that time forgot
while she was dancing in the shadows
of yesterday's sky

tomorrow another day dream
written with memory
these very lines
and squiggles and curves
vowels and consonants like love letters
strewn across the vastness
sent by no one
to no one
crumpled dreams
paper candy wrappers
flowers in the tumbleweeds
trembling in the morning wind

a thousand songs ago
my heart exploded into infinite sky
and there is no one waiting
for its return



slowly slowly
golden leaf spins
caught in autumn shower

petals of your heart fell
one after another
until you could no longer find
a love you longed to hold
but could never name
memories pressed between the pages of time
cannot blossom

flowers explode inside your empty chest
exquisite the thorns that pierce your tenderness
all ideas of love bleed into the dream
river of tears
has no wetness

whose eyes weave the new dawn
and gaze upon the garden
surly they are not owned
nor this love
bathing in this splendiferous naked sky



sunlight pours through cliffs of wind
solidity of joy and sorrow crumble
butterfly seems to catch the light
blossoming iridescence
flies in and around the daydream
that it is

infinity faceted gems
spin
weaving and unweaving this flowing tapestry
that neither moves nor remains still
without a place to land
cascades of dream fragments
fall apart
the hand that tried to grasp it
was it
the teller of the story
is the story

moon cannot hide in its own shadow
flowers do not desire to see their own beauty
yet the flame burns itself
pierced by her own aloneness
it was no longer hers

she was the ache for color
the hum of the night
and the longing for day
painting rainbows on the window
her tears were no longer hers
as she watched the colors flow
she disappeared into the flowing
and never looked back
there was no back
nor anyone to look


words cannot be held
inside your mouth
inside your chest
they paint the inside
and outside
of all things

trace of moon spills into dawn
erases the kiss of shadows
blooming
and receding
into night

pirouette of light and dark
sank in the garden pond
where your reflection waited
for you to appear

longing to drown in light
it burnt the inside and outside
of your shadow

your footprints
melted into earth
your echo
faded into sky
no image was left in the mirror
there was no one looking

all sides fell through the looking glass
as it shattered into infinite reflections
these very words
seem to capture edgeless-ness
trying to catch them
you bleed

sound absorbs its own echo

light disappears into its own reflection

moon Lilly wilts in the mid day sun

how deep was my shadow

as I fell through the sidewalk

how wide the abyss

that has no sides?

reflections shimmer and dance

skim the surface of the stream

ripples flow over and under and through each other

sky mirrors sky

light pours through light

and you fall through

there is no other side

of your own emptiness