Marge Piercy To Be of Use ———— The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again. I want to be with people who submerge in the task, who go into the fields to harvest and work in a row and pass the bags along, who are not parlor generals and field deserters but move in a common rhythm when the food must come in or the fire be put out. The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. Greek amphoras for wine or oil, Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums but you know they were made to be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.

  Mary Oliver When Death Comes ———— When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence, and each body a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth. When it’s over, I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world

Lockdown by  Richard Hendrick Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness. Yes there is even death. But, They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise You can hear the birds again. They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes But blue and grey and clear. They say that in the streets of Assisi People are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them. They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound. Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighbourhood So that the elders may have someone to call on. Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way All over the world people are waking up to a new reality To how big we really are. To how little control we really have. To what really matters. To Love. So we pray and we remember that Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate. Yes there is isolation. But there does not have to be loneliness. Yes there is panic buying. But there does not have to be meanness. Yes there is sickness. But there does not have to be disease of the soul Yes there is even death. But there can always be a rebirth of love. Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now. Today, breathe. Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic The birds are singing again The sky is clearing, Spring is coming, And we are always encompassed by Love. Open the windows of your soul And though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, Sing

A poem by Lynn Ungar Pandemic What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your body has become still, reach out with your heart. Know that we are connected in ways that are terrifying and beautiful. (You could hardly deny it now.) Know that our lives are in one another’s hands. (Surely, that has come clear.) Do not reach out your hands. Reach out your heart. Reach out your words. Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch. Promise this world your love– for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, so long as we all shall live. –Lynn Ungar 3/11/20

I know peace in the present. The eternal presence of True Nature surrounds and imbues my consciousness with peace and presence.  I focus my awareness on this Truth. This present moment is where my awareness lives and where I know the Universe as my everpresent Source of love, wisdom, and peace. This present moment is like the dawn,  and it brings with it light and truth and peace and beauty, and joy. There is a peace is this moment that fills my soul with the sense of eternity, of time without end. I know that right now there is nothing I need to do or say or be differently than I am right here right now. And this world, this Universe, this present moment is enough just as it is. In quiet gratitude, I accept all of life as a gift. In truth, my world is overflowing with goodness, grace, beauty, truth and love. I am grateful for everything. And I forgive anything I need to forgive and embrace everything I need to embrace. I embrace this moment. I embrace love. I embrace truth. I release my word to the law of life and know that these words are already true. And so it is.

There is only One Power, One Presence, and One Life. It is whole complete and perfect. It is infinite. With no beginning and no end. As such, it is timeless. It is immediate. It is fully present, fully conscious, fully powerful. At all times. In all ways. The Infinite is always expressing Its magnificence. It can be no other way. There is no slowing down, no speeding up, and no stopping it. It is continuously unfolding. It is continuously creative and continuously present, —filling all time and space unconditionally with divine love and intelligence.This is what It is and what It does. I bring my awaereness to this divinity, this timelessness, and I am expanded by it and grateful for it. And I let it be so.  And so it is.

There is one love. It is divine love. And it is everywhere present. I am created from this love. I am one with this love. In fact, saying I’m one with it almost denies the inseparability of this oneness. There is no me and oness, me and this love. There is only oneness. Only love. As this awareness sinks into my consciousness, I move into my heart space where I feel and hear and trust and am surrounded by and imbued with Divine Love. As my thoughts shift from my small, egoic sense of a separate self and move into a more expansive space of knowing, I let go of  any false beliefs that tell me I am not good enough, or not deserving, or that I have to earn love. I accept the Truth that I am perfectly loveable exactly as I am. True Nature immerses me in unconditional love. I no longer hide from love. I no longer deny the love that is the Universe. I let go of the conditions I place on the universe as I recognize that the universe is unconditional with me. I choose to love this life and to recognize that I am loved and that I am Love.I am centered in the loving conciosuness of True Nature. Therefore, I know myself as love;  I accept myself as love, and I accept the love that others have for me. I trust it. I embrace it. I accept it. I give thanks for this love, this unity, this expansive unconditional truth. I accept it and I left it be so and so it is.

Recognition: There is a power and presence in this world. And I am aware of it. And it is aware of me. Why? Why am I aware of it and why do I care to declare my awareness of it right now? Because I am awake to the miracle of being alive. And saying so is an act of honoring what I know. Of not denying it. Of not hiding from it’s power and it truth. I see the miraculous in everything. I know that this life is Holy. I know that this life is Divine. I know that this Universe exceeds my greatest imaginings. And I am humbled by it. And in awe of it. I don’t allow my mind, my ego, or this culture to get in the way of my awareness. And my awe. And my gratitude. Holy light fills every part of the Universe, and it fills me, my consciousness, my soul, my life. Oneness: I live in this light, knowing It is always within me, always guiding me, always accessible to me. Awareness: With the dawn of each new day, I awaken once more to my conscious mind, and I consciously choose not to forget True Nature, not to get caught up in the smoke and mirrors of my ego.Each new day I am new again. Today is a blank slate. Today I am free to create a life in which I delight, a life of creative thinking, health, success and love. Right now, I am new, as if yesterday never were. I forgive anything I need to forgive—mistakes, regrets, actions, and let go of the trivial, and the inconsequential. I know my true self, my soul self, is awakened, untouched by anything that has gone before. I realize my oneness with all people, understanding there is no great or small, no humbled or exalted. The light of love falls upon my world, revealing beauty, truth, and love. Gratitude: Life unfolds before me, and my path is clear. Before me, I see only perfect potential, unlimited possibility, and my fondest dreams fulfilled. What more could I ask for? Surrender: In gratitude, I bask in the light. I release my powerful word And I let it be so. And so it is.

Recognition: There is one all knowing, all powerful Presence in the Universe. It is in and around me. Oneness: I am one with this presence, and It is one with me. Awareness: My increased awareness of the Divine expands my consciousness to a new level of understanding and new heights of spiritual expression. I  let go of any imperfect ideas. I let the healing energy of the Universe flow through me. The light of the Infinite surrounds me. Its love embraces me, and Its power animates me. Wherever I am, True Nature is. Gratitude: Right action is always taking place in my life. And I see evidence of this truth continually unfolding. I am abundantly grateful. Surrender: I give thanks for this realization. …and  I release my word to the Law of life. And so it is.

Recognition: There is One Power, One Presence, and, One Source of all there is. I call it True Nature. I am one with it. Therefore, it’s nature is my nature. Oneness: I tune in to this oneness. I embrace this unity with love, and I am at peace.  Awareness: Feeling my deep connection with all there is, I relax into this moment. I see the richness of life surrounding me, immersing me in gratitude and profound joy. The beauty of life flows freely through me.  I am healthy. I am prosperous. And I am loving. I am in harmony with my world. And I feel the gentle flow of peace within me. Gratitude: I am abundantly supported. I am blessed and deeply, deeply grateful. Surrender: My life is miraculous, divine, and whole. This is the truth. I know it. I love it and I let it be so. And so it is.