a man and a lizard

Dewdrop, let me cleanse in your brief sweet waters... these dark hands of life. 

Basho

Sunlight is the smiling face of life, especially just at the moment when life begins a new day. Is it unusual for a man to be in love with the universe, just as it is? It shouldn't be. Here is the water, the air, and the earth. Here is the corner where I can pray. A new day, the sunlight joyously returns; the wren in the jasmine watches.

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The lizard is quite brave, like Hannibal,

And he dashes out on the trail right in front of me,

Stops, and looks up at me.

He has stopped me in my tracks.

I drop down to my hands and knees,

And I bring my face very close to his.

He doesn't run. He just cocks his head

And looks back me, and so in this way

We regard one another. A man and a lizard

On a Sierra Nevada trail in the heat of the afternoon.

This is his world, and I grow weary of the encounter

Before he does, and so I stand, say goodbye,

And start walking back down to my own world.

And he dashes off, too,

Back to whatever it is that a lizard does.

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There are signs… if you look for them. Species of creatures dying out, a rising sea, a smaller arctic. A feeling of dread on the population, people moving on in fear and desperation. And the answer? It isn’t ‘better politics.' The answer is in our hearts, in our spirits. We need silence. We need emptiness. Friend, what we need is... less.

James Lee Jobe

Street art of me.

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James