rejecting temptation in the desert

Ophelia Chambliss

do you see     you have given yet another day
to the tick-tock of eternity and you are living
the story even as you tell it     wasn't it Jung
who warned you about this     or was it Jesus
your father said you wouldn't amount
to anything     but when he said it he was drunk
and he was watching television
in his underwear     are you dead yet     no
then cheer up a little     you've got as much chance
of something good happening to you
as anyone else does     get some rest
relax     tomorrow is another day

james lee jobe

Grief can be the garden of compassion.

If you keep your heart open through everything,

your pain can become your greatest ally

in your life's search for love and wisdom. 

Rumi

those wild sparrows    they appear and disappear 
In a flash     sometimes one will land on my patio
or in my yard, and peck around    just a moment 
or two and then gone again  where do they live 
where do they sleep    so tiny and delicate
so free    in a world as big as all that

james lee jobe

Breathing in, I see myself as still water. 

Breathing out, I reflect things as they are. 

Thich Nhat Hanh

what I do now I do for myself

I am hooking a green ladder to the rim of the sky
and climbing up to paint the clouds red
red clouds and a red wind a red life

I am donating a pound of flesh to a charity auction
everyone needs to do their part the flesh is raw
and beautiful and it quivers on the dinner plate

I am scraping rust from the pipes as an offering
to a dark god a hairy god with horns and a tail
this is my communion wafer this is my psalm

I am walking into the desert for forty days and forty nights
the california desert and I will reject whatever temptation
is offered just like jesus try me

what I do now I do for myself for my own soul
I am my own salvation my hope
what have you got to match that

james lee jobe

Truly, just sit...That's all there is. 

Motoko Ikebe

I have come here to fight a battle with the moon
but with no weapons
I am climbing a wooden staircase up to the heights of the sky
this battle will be fought with invisible weapons that draw no blood
that make no wounds
even as I climb past the silken thighs of the night
I can see the stars drinking the sorrow from my eyes like wine
there is love on the face of the moon
and there is love behind the steel walls of my heart
there may be no battle after all
the pope of the church of night raises high the chalice
and up toward the face of the moon I am climbing still

james lee jobe

Please help support this blog with a small donation on the BUY ME A COFFEE link below. Every little bit helps! 

Thanks, james