The end should have some beauty.

SAULO SILVEIRA

The meeting will come to order.

In time, we will call the meeting to order,
a meeting for the purpose of understanding the earth.
Everyone present will have a voice;
rocks and people,
the soil and the animals,
the rivers and the plants,
everyone and everything that exists.
We can hear the truth from every point of view
and then come to understand this world around us.
And having learned what we need,
we can call for the vote;
shall we save this world,
or just give up and wait?
To do something, or just sit back
and wait for this world to die.
Life is made of choices.

James Lee Jobe

“The earth has disappeared beneath my feet, it fled from all my ecstasy. Now like a singing air creature I feel the rose keep opening.”

Hāfez

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'

Getting the job done.

It doesn't have to be a pistol, or a noose,
or poison, or drugs.
You don't have to crash the car into a freeway overpass
at one hundred miles per hour,
or stand in front of a fast train.

Of, course, all of those things work,
They will definitely get the job done.
But they're all so harsh, lacking
in any kind of beauty.

The end should have some beauty.

You could be the guy who takes one last swim,
way out pass the breakers,
swimming until exhaustion takes you,
nothing but endless ocean around you at the end.
The strength of the sea. The power.

It isn't so much a suicide as it is an invitation
for death to come visit, or like making a request
to death, "If you're going my way, I could use a ride."

You could be that guy who makes one last hike
into the Sierra Nevada in full-on winter,
where the trail is covered in snow,
walking until the wee hours and then, exhausted,
you spread your parka on the ground
and lay down to sleep, lovely sleep,
your final sight before closing your eyes
are the lovely snowflakes coming down
soft and thick to land on your face,
perfect snowflakes, so beautiful,
no two of them are alike.

James Lee Jobe

’Tis the first snow—

Just enough to bend

The gladiolus leaves!

Basho

Siesta zazen.

Mid-afternoon, my granddaughter
is down for her nap,
and my sweet wife sleeps with her.
This old house is quiet at last, after
a full day of a three year old at play.
Now, for meditation in the silence,
there is only my breath.

James Lee Jobe

To support this blog, please consider a small donation through the link below. Thanks! 

James