Second Chance Dance: September 2025

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

"We are the drop of water rising up , joining with the drops

in a cloud until in a blink of the cosmic eye the drop falls

returning to the expansive sea from whence it came...back home."

- Adapted from a Buddhist teacher

"Every moment and every event of

every person's life on earth plants

something in our soul. For just as the wind

carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment

brings with it germs of spiritual vitality

that comes to rest imperceptibly in the minds

and wills of everyone. Most of these

unnumbered seeds perish and are

lost, because we are not prepared to receive them:

for such seeds as these spring up

anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

- New seeds of Contemplation. Thomas Merton

Inspiration :

Waking in the morning can be a most mystical gift.

Sometimes rest and sleep do not arrive as we intend.

It can be restless, filled with passages into rabbit holes

that make Alice's experience seem like metaphors

while other storylines contain some hidden truths

or fears sparked by exaggerated interpretation

of the real.

Yet, when the wandering brain and body

signal it is time to return to the world's vibrancy,

there is no conscious awareness of the science that fuels

the moment of morning's reverie.

Sometimes - just sometimes -the divine

gift of epiphany

arrives in that dawning without warning or

prophecy.

The wonder returns.

The Writing:

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

Crickets chirping and morning bird songs

proclaim humble sweet gratitude.

Dark shadows of night evaporate

as the gleam of the forthcoming

brilliance begins to wash over

resting silent landscape.

The last flowers of summer

submit and offering of one final

proclamation of blessedness.

Nature's tranquility, evidence

- of the mystical

caresses with waves of grace.

A rekindled spark of a sanctified sanctuary

gifts the constancy of unconditional love

with gentle cosmic winds of mercy.

The sound of soft rolling waves on the shore line

sweep away the footprints of authentic

prayer-filled pilgrims,

gulls and scampering sandpipers.

A red bead of sun peeks over the horizon illuminating

and warming the waiting third planet

as she moves on in her journey.

Yet some insecure sentients deem this sanctuary

imperfect,

contriving plans to disrupt the grandeur of

the great cathedral.

The morning matins of wayfaring strangers

as if breathing under water,

conjure tears of deliverance -

fearing the universe's divine majesty

of the universe may abandon everything -

starting anew somewhere else in the great expanse.

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

A Day

I'll tell you how the sun rose-

A ribbon of a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,

The news like squirrels ran

The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

"That must have been the sun!"

But how he set , I know not.

There seemed a purple stile

Which yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while

Till when they reached the other side,

A domine in grey

Put gently up the evening bars,

And led the flock away.

- E. Dickinson

Sandpiper - E. Bishop

https://youtu.be/y23xgttkUs0?si=qCr2NdnDdY3jlEF6

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Morning Has Broken - C. Stevens(Yusuf)

(Dawn at White House- Jesuit Retreat ,St. Louis, Mo)

https://youtu.be/e0TInLOJuUM?si=RmHWvT8OKbtn1DoO

Morning - Beck

https://youtu.be/UvKbBkiYN9Y?si=ifkK07uI5rNCcnHn

New Morning - B. Dylan

https://youtu.be/99s-B9YoGPA?si=Qwm_FNQYMI8TEEQ7

Light of the Clear Be Morning- Conspirare

https://youtu.be/TkrIQ0XEeFU?si=XpLWYqJivM-0iOkj

-----

Coda: Something extra special for your consideration

and reflection ( wait until the end)

Intention and Kindness - W. Dyer

https://youtu.be/vmGQev-obBk?si=mKnKJQ7JwTV0DJ8p

AMDG

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New Blog - Rain and Rivers Revisited: A Journey of a Lost Weekend

Well you may recall I have been working on a piece of fiction for a while now. It is still a work in progress. However, I decided

to release drafts of the first few episodes ( chapters.) Much of the work is completed but I am always cutting and editing.

http://rainandriversrevisited.blogspot.com/

It is difficult to release just pieces at a time as they are created as independent episodes they are also all parts of a larger piece (and picture .) I could share more but I am curious to read or hear your feedback.

I want to thank those friends and supporters who have already provided feedback ...and of course all the folks who have been following my Second Chance Dance Blog ( by the way that will continue.)

The material in the Blog is all copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form. Though, I welcome you to share the link and this blog with others .So please when you have a few minutes take a read and let me know what you think. I expect to be posting a series of subsequent episodes shortly.

Thanks....

News of Death

(This is for Coach)

Last night they came with news of death
not knowing what I would say.
I wanted to say,"The green wind is running through the fields making the grass lie flat."
I wanted to say,"The apple blossom flakes like ash covering the orchard wall."
I wanted to say,"the fish float belly up in the slow stream,stepping stones to the dead."

They asked if I would sleep that night,
I said I did not know.
For this loss I could not speak,the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,the heart was strangely open,the moon had gone,and it was then when I said, "He is no longer here"
that the night put its arms around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.
- David Whyte

What Work is

We stand in the rain in a long line

waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.

You know what work is--if you're

old enough to read this you know what

work is, although you may not do it.

Forget you. This is about waiting,

shifting from one foot to another.

Feeling the light rain falling like mist

into your hair, blurring your vision

until you think you see your own brother

ahead of you, maybe ten places.

You rub your glasses with your fingers,

and of course it's someone else's brother,

narrower across the shoulders than

yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin

that does not hide the stubbornness,

the sad refusal to give in to

rain, to the hours wasted waiting,

to the knowledge that somewhere ahead

a man is waiting who will say, "No,

we're not hiring today," for any

reason he wants. You love your brother,

now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who's not beside you or behind or

ahead because he's home trying to

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

Works eight hours a night so he can sing

Wagner, the opera you hate most,

the worst music ever invented.

How long has it been since you told him

you loved him, held his wide shoulders,

opened your eyes wide and said those words,

and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never

done something so simple, so obvious,

not because you're too young or too dumb,

not because you're jealous or even mean

or incapable of crying in

the presence of another man, no,

just because you don't know what work is.

Philip Levine

On Marriage - Kahil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love:Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loafSing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.And stand together yet not too near together:For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A favorite "Journey" poem from a favorite poet

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-- Mary Oliver

Send or post one of your favorites! They can be lyrics to a song!

Playing For Change

Please see the current music video from "Playing for Change" at the bottom of this page. It is a movement. Enjoy!

"Playing for Change" is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world

Fall in Love

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” --- Pedro Arrupe SJ