Part 3:The Waste Land Redux: Five Quintets

 

Those who retrain their desire

do so as they are weak enough to be 

restrained"

- Wm Blake

"How did it get so late so soon?"

- Dr. Seus

"Would you tell me please, which way I ought to

go from here?" Alice asked the cat.

The cat replied ."That all depends where you 

want get to."

"I don't much care where' said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go"

said the cat.

- Alice in Wonderland

[Note: This is the third contemplation in Five Pieces

that was initiated in the February 1, 2026 blog post and 

to be continued in subsequent posts. This all started

with the witness and sharing of the Venerable Buddhist 

Walk for Peace and a friend's reaction and what happened

and continues to occur with this writer.]

Inspiration:

Entering the portal of Erik Erikson's exploration of ego

integrity, the scattered points of my passage begin to align.

A forgotten piece of the puzzle stirs --

about to be illuminated ,

warming this pilgrim's spirit.

 ....To be continued

The Writing 

The Way of Tea  

Time does not move in straight lines. 

It opens. It returns. It reveals. 

Another long-forgotten encounter rises - 

sparked by the memory of the Venerable Monks Walk for Peace. 

A therapist, spiritual navigator , confidante and friend reached out 

as this prodigal pilgrim's vessel strained sailing against life's storms.

Hi name , Kirk-- father of the witness who wept recently 

as the monks passed in kindness and peace.

Kirks's lake house ---quiet, removed, a fitting threshold.

No explanations. A gentle smile.A gentle welcome

Two pilgrims mindfully step down to the yard in the back.

The lake wide . the sun descending placidly 

behind the trees on the far coast of the still waters. 

An altar waits:

a teapot of hot water, two ceramic bowls- 

loose leaves within 

Bamboo utensils, 

linen, folded with care ...guardians 

hymns to the silence.

Hands folded together heart center ---

Kirk bows, pilgrim returns a bow 

acknowledging the sacred in each other 

They sit - eyes meet . 

Kirk forms a cup with his hands 

The prodigal - follows ...

A bowl is placed---carefully --into open palms 

Water is poured, a gesture shown: 

cleansing the rim , then sipping the tea. 

Together. 

At last words - from the humble host: 

"Chanoyou ---mindfulness, harmony , 

respect, tranquility." 

A pause. 

More words flow ---"An old friend --- Robert Kennedy, 

a Jesuit, Psychoanalyst and Roshi. 

A slight breath - inhaling/exhaling.

"This Roshi invited me to an inter-religious retreat. 

I went...but after a few days, I told him , 

"I don't get it." 

He said "At least you tried."

 Kirk continues: 

"I left .Days later --- here --- sitting by the lake --- at sunset ---

Eyes open - I said ...

"I get it." 

The two then take a peaceful walk 

passing an empty boat on the shoreline---

just two mindful shadows. 

They speak of poetry, music, and Joseph Campbell. 

No conferences or consultation 

why the prodigal pilgrim came. 

At their parting, Kirk speaks 

with a kind smile and a hand 

consoling the pilgrim's heart, 

"Peace ...Courage."

Another time jump 

More than twenty years hence 

a room or retirees ...

a community gathered -- 

The pilgrim one pf this Jesuit Senior Volunteer Corps

Door opens No announcement, 

no sacred hymn or chant. 

Holy man enters -- long, dark robe flowing ( a kokomo). 

The anointed mentor for this congregation - 

speaking in a familiar soft voice:

"Let me introduce myself, I am 

called Father and Roshi - Robert Kennedy 

Recognition strikes ---sudden , undeniable. 

Kirk's friend!

The heart stumbles --- 

three, four beats lost. 

The long lost story recalled---

the tea, the lake, the silence.

No need to speak 

Another time jump 

Here/Now ---awakening ---a pattern revealed:

another dot connected - 

another piece finding its place 

within the story of me...

quietly emerging- 

" I get it!"

JF Sobecki

------------

Second Chance Dance Playlist Songs and Poetry 

April 1, 2026 -

For your listening pleasure and contemplation:

There are some special videos here.

Click the link below

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB8FrnVEQMJCHHspt23aXZb01sVzm5Iei&si=7YnvLbcX8tg5PKK1

Some music to take a moment for reflection...if you desire.

Do you have dots of your passage that have yet to be connected?

Is there a piece or two from your puzzle that needs to fit?

May peace be with you and yours all ways

This is a selection from the movie The Mission 

A Spiritual Director once asked me to listen

to this piece while contemplating the words...

"I am with you al-ways."

Gabriel's Oboe
https://youtu.be/Ixby9BzJfEo?si=BRDlStyY9wFam3Lu

Coda:

Whether you "believe" or not...this might be interesting:

* Research indicates that even with significant differences

the major religions and spiritual practices around the world 

they share the following common perspectives and themes:

- Compassion and love - how we treat others

- promote human welfare and reduce suffering

- Practice loving kindness all ways

- All life ( existence) is connected.

- A good life is measured by your kindness to others

- Seek truth, wisdom and understanding

- Be grateful , present and aware of each moment

- There is a higher purpose in life than materialism

- Service to and care of others, be selfless ( especially those 

   who cannot help themselves)

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."

- Jack Kerouac

"If this is well told and to the point, that is what I desired; 

if it is poorly done , it was the best I could do."

- 2 Maccabees 15:38-39

               

AMDG

Copyright All Rights Reserved 2026 JF Sobecki LLC

 

The Mystic and the Giving Tree

"You don't choose a life ,dad, you live it" 

- The Way , Movie  ( Emilio Estevez/ Martin Sheen)

"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - Lennon/McCartney

"I desire mercy , not sacrifice" - Matt 9:13

                                                                    

                                                                      The Giving Tree

                     Click link for video Reading of the Book "The Giving Tree" - S. Silverstein 

                                                           https://youtu.be/HgDWvLOodHw

"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree.For in being what God means it to be it is obeying [God]. It 'consents,'so to speak , to [God's] creative love. It is expressing idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree."

- Thomas Merton New Seeds of Contemplation

The Inspiration :

Sometimes there can be the most simple book , the sweetest song or a

pleasant poignant poem that echo the most profound messages found 

in the great innocence of children's voices fueling that eternal spark

that will never succumb to the darkness in the world. They 

are all the source of sanctifying grace and the inspiration that

 transcends time. Often the message is most obvious for the ears 

who hear and it is seen with eyes closed, even in a child's 

book about trees .

 

The Writing:

The Mystic and the Giving Tree

The aged wrinkled wise ascetic 

Desert monk contemplated without shelter from the storm

Just on the outskirts of Nag Hammadi.

Sitting on the roadside , legs crossed , whispering what passers-by

Considered a soft mantra repeated over and over

And over. No beginning, no ending. 

Pilgrims making their Camino

With no Compostela or scallops pointing the path,

Retreat on their sojourn , sitting ,seeing , listening and waiting in wonder ,

Was this recluse lama mumbling gibberish quietly imparting a convoluted fable

or was it some Joycean emotion of a Homeric epic poem 

About the meaning  and rights of passage?

In-between the solo mystic's faint breaths 

The words flow like a river smoothing the stones

That were once rough edged pebbles cast to the water.

The stone's ripples reach out to kiss the shore and

Disappear into the great sea of mercy.

Transcribing the sounds this pilgrim filled the virgin pages

Of rugged worn journal, what he believed he heard. and observed.

"Loaves and fishes comes to mind.

The pilgrims fed, nourished and nurtured with no concern

About the seekers' depth or lack of faith wisdom , ignorance or conviction.

It was more than words they ate up."

The monk spoke:

"Release control and surrender to the flow of love.

The wounded healer will be healed.

Loving with desire for reward or receiving abundant 

Love in return is not real love.

Ignorance and indifference erode hope

As they fuel avarice and narcissism.

Be like all of Mother Nature... especially the trees,

Be authentic , be true to your be-ing and purpose. 

Be thankful as we have enough trees and stars 

To teach and inspire us."

- JF Sobecki

-------------

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" - Mirabai Starr

" To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.'

- Wm. Blake

Miracles

Why , who makes such a miracle?

As to me , I know of nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan

Or dart my sight over there roofs of houses toward the sky.

Or wade with naked fee along the beach just

in the edge of the water,

or stand under trees in the woods,

Or talk by day with anyone I love , or sleep in the 

bed at night with anyone I love.

Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,

Or sit at a table at dinner with the rest,

Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,

Or watch honey bees busy around the hive of a

summer forenoon,

Or animals feeding in the fields,

Or birds , or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,

Or the wonderfulness of the sundown or the stars

shining so quiet and bright,

or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon

in spring;

These with the Reston in all , are to me miracles,

The whole referring , yet each distinct and in the place.

To me every hour the light and dark is a miracle.

Every cubic inch space is a miracle.

Every square yard of the surface of the earth is

spread with the same,

Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,

The fishes that swim-the rocks- the motion of the 

waves- that ships with the men in them,

What stranger miracles are there?

- Walt Whitman

-------

The Music:

(Musical reflections on the inspiration)

I Release Control - Alexa Sunshine Rose

(Thanks Barry for the inspiration)

https://youtu.be/7wEyoxLjkhM

I still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 

https://youtu.be/e3-5YC_oHjE

Days Like This - Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/3UUWkr4FUlo

Coda: For your listening and viewing pleasure if you desire:

Here are a couple of random bits and pieces - consider them

kindling for the fire.

Not Dead Yet - Lord Huron

https://youtu.be/2BEarxyb2PE

Banshees of Inisherin - Movie ( Nice and/or Music, art and poetry- legacy?)

https://youtu.be/a0RBIOxpco8

The Mission - The movie ( 1 Corintians 13)

https://youtu.be/dmUxkdTZY18

Mission: The Movie-  On Earth as it is in Heaven

(This blog's creator was asked to contemplate to this music

while on an eight day in silence. It's serenity and illuminating beauty

lives on )

Silence - The Movie 

( an interesting exchange- watch to the last line)

https://youtu.be/JfzriULmrvA

The Stable Song - Gregory Alan Isakov

(Sometimes we need just a simple smooth sounding song)

https://youtu.be/AqyAmmEkVvI

Yesterday -The Movie (spoiler alert! )

Meeting John Lennon - 

[Happiness = Success/Fight for what you believe in]

https://youtu.be/0ONU_H0EjIg

 6/16  51 years

amdg

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Happy Birthday Eugene...

The Green Flash

 

"It is said that once you have seen green flash , you'll never go wrong in matters of the heart"

" Another great difference between our civilization and yours is ...you admire the person who pushes their way to the top in any walk of life, while we admire the one who abandons their ego"

                          - Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer

" Often the reason why some do not believe in God is that they have often ceased to believe that God can love them"

  - Thomas Merton

-----

The Green Flash

Consider the turtle and the hare

They say the turtle is calm and deliberate, no rush

Making progress when he sticks his neck out.

Consider that every day has a night,

Every competitive sport has an opportunity for a break-

A time out , a time for the athletes to take a breath.

Long duration competitions give the athletes

A time to recover and get reinvigorated for the next game or race.

Musicians have measures and and rests.

At the close of a composition there is a time for a break.

Notes without silence in-between is not music

Books and poems end, don't tell Joyce

Long distance hikes and solo global  sailors 

Seek the opportunity to nourish themselves.

Eventually sailors seek to secure serenity of a safe harbor.

Le Mans and Nascar drivers consider their fuel

And wear and tear on their vehicle.

Pit stops are critical .

These are the days that can last forever.

Zen monks patiently create sand mandalas 

Then rest and wipe the creation of the colored grains away.

The art is in the doing not the completing.

The constant busyness distracts from the essence , the truth.

Pilgrims seem to learn all this a little to late sometimes.

Slow down, relax , regroup , be mindful,

Listen to the children play ,

Breathe slowly when sitting on the beach at sunset

The blessing of witnessing and savoring the green flash

Is reserved for those who are present,

Those who stop and just be .

- JF Sobecki

---------------

These are the Days- Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/_lyve_egY8o

Children - Kahil Gibran

https://youtu.be/z8DSOpsNkt8

Murder In The City - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/cr420Jwr14U

I remember everything - John Prine

https://youtu.be/L21Tc_DtL6M

Across The Universe - Beatles

https://youtu.be/iotagMCkJRE

Daughter - Loudon Wainright III (for Lindsay and Leigh)

https://youtu.be/kgEePOfWMuc

                                           The "Summer House" in The Safe Harbor of Cape May

Copyright JF Sobecki LLC 2021 All Rights Reserved

amdg

Force Majeure : A #GirlDad Lament

WARNING:CAUTION! 

As you open this blog and begin to read and listen please consider this:

• If you have a loved one , friend or know someone in need you want to talk to…do it now
• If you are putting off contacting that long lost acquaintance do it now
• If there is someone you know needs a hug do it now
• If you need a hug tell someone now
• If there is an unresolved conflict with someone you love , move to resolve it now
• If you haven’t taken a moment to reflect on the people and things you are grateful for …stop…and do it now
• When you are ready....I hope you find this post worthwhile

______________________________________

Force Majeure : A #GirlDad lament

Hardwood giants wept uncontrollably

With the news that The Black Mamba , his princess

And seven others without warning went down in flames.

One of the wounded warriors spoke

Of how he admired the Mamba Man and was also guilty of

Being obsessed with and addicted to working hard

To achieve success at any cost.

“I wish I had been more addicted

To my wife and family,”he sighed.

The pilgrim recalled the week before

Launching out again with his partner on

Another passage of love

The road travelled was a familiar one

Then as their eyes blinked , suddenly they were ambushed

Split second memories flashed in a nanosecond

Jolted and shaken they walked from the wreckage

No blood was shed....no bruise , scratches,no regrets

The distracted driver who unwittingly drove into them

Was not as fortunate

The first one thought what if we left a minute earlier

Or what if we departed a few minutes later?

No time for what ifs when life just happens.

Words like “you two were lucky” and

"Your car did what it is supposed to do and saved you."

Who would have thought?

His father suddenly had his first and last heart attack

Passing 40 years ago this month,

9/11 and the second chance healing of his broken heart

All had shoved him into conviction, to metanoia.

He was warned that “amnesia” of the awakening would 

Eventually prevail.

A soft consoling voice whispered “One more time- 

Time is a gift.

Sometimes we don’t think about the 1,440 minutes each day

That we have been gifted.

The distractions and mindless meanderings 

Get in the way allowing ourselves to become complete…

To pay attention to what and who is really important
In one's life”

That voice he heard- was his own…

 - JF Sobecki

  

                                            #GirlDad

                       

--------------------------------------------

“… There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: 

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, 

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me— 

That ever with a frolic welcome took 

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed 

Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; 

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; 

Death closes all: but something ere the end, 

Some work of noble note, may yet be done, 

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. 

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: 

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep 

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 

'T is not too late to seek a newer world. 

Push off, and sitting well in order smite 

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 

Of all the western stars, until I die. 

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: 

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' 

We are not now that strength which in old days 

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; 

One equal temper of heroic hearts, 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

   - excerpt Ulysses , Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Buddha's Last Instruction by Mary Oliver

"Make of yourself a light"

said the Buddha, 

before he died.

I think of this every morning

as the east begins

to tear off its many clouds

of darkness, to send up the first

signal-a white fan

streaked with pink and violet,

even green.

An old man, he lay down 

between two sala trees,

and he might have said anything,

knowing it was his final hour.

The light burns upward,

it thickens and settles over the fields.

Around him, the villagers gathered

and stretched forward to listen.

Even before the sun itself

hangs, disattached, in the blue air,

I am touched everywhere

by its ocean of yellow waves.

No doubt he thought of everything

that had happened in his difficult life.

And then I feel the sun itself

as it blazes over the hills,

like a million flowers on fire-

clearly I'm not needed,

yet I feel myself turning

into something of inexplicable value.

Slowly, beneath the branches, 

he raised his head.

He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.

Give me love, Give me Peace - The Avett Brothers (G. Harrison)

                                              https://youtu.be/qDSNxDV8grk

                                     What Happens to the heart - L. Cohen

                                        https://youtu.be/2AMMb9CiScI

                                         

                                    Got To Get Better - E. Clapton

                                              

                                            

                                      https://youtu.be/efFo-Clq844

                                     Sometimes We Cry - V. Morrison

                                             

                                                  https://youtu.be/LqkrGPEdt34

                                     Salt Of The Earth - Rolling Stones

                                      https://youtu.be/eOiLH-2hTPQ

                  Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End - Beatles

                                              

                                                 

                                              https://youtu.be/aqhPsah6ECI

                                              

                                           

                                     March Winds in February - V. Morrison

https://youtu.be/jTo8sxJeNTI

Ok How about one more From Van to take us home?!

St. Dominics Preview 

(You can turn it up and stand up as you watch this one)

                                                                       

                                             https://youtu.be/V8oBVhVNWjg

             (shhhhh-  don't tell anyone but when I dream about performing I see this !)

amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

The New Year's Ballad of the Wrong Answer Boy

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

—T.S. Eliot

The New Year’s Ballad of the Wrong Answer Boy

Contemplating the arbitrariness of the celebrated 

annual milestone

He thought it a benefit to consider the sometime 

mile markers

On the decades of the pilgrimage  labeled the

Odd-yssey thus far.

(Sort of a long term Ignatian Examen of sorts)

The first remembrance that flashed was during 

during the elementary days when the

good Sister asked “ 

So, what is it you want to be?” “Kind” ,he said.

The weaponized yardstick swiftly appeared

Cracking down the back of his head.

She said “Again”

Pondering a possible right answer the boy whispered,

“Just who I was meant to be.”

That yardstick raised and his arm stiffens holding back the

swoosh saying to the 

Shocked nun, “never again.” Since that incident he was

left to his own mistaken devices  

falling off the track on a number of occasions .

He eventually found solace in music, poetry and books. 

The next test was the future 

father in law’s Interrogation “ So what can you do with being

an English Major? 

How will you provide for a family ?” And on and on… 

The now young man just smiled 

confidently and said “ I’ll figure it out.”

Again, wrong answer.

After twelve years of institutional spiritual formation … 

‘these are the rules… the divine DNA is in all things, love one

another, live in peace , be selfless, be merciful, trust and have

faith and live in truth and 

integrity , action is greater than words ,follow the rules in our

book and don’t forget to memorize and say these prayers 

daily.” But , the world didn’t care much about that “Holy roller.stuff.” 

How much do you have 

;How important are you and why should I care about you seemed 

to become the metrics of 

importance and success. How well one panders to others was 

defined as a key foundational 

standardized barometer. He got lost on that river and found 

himself submitting to worldly 

promises.Some wizards tried to rescue him converging 

the religious formula with
promises of prosperity. “That might work”, he believed. 

Again, he was wrong. It didn’t.

It wasn’t until he crossed that line when his heart half 

broken that the only way to
continue was to get a second chance.Somehow 

someone something intervened . 

Some mysterious angelic voice in a dream reached

into that cage encouraging to 

him to shed the ragged coat  and mask that confused 

everyone even himself and “

Don’t let the darkness rule you.. let go and let that 

authentic voice within surface

and just let the wind and the river take you 

where you need to go.”

That caged bird mysteriously was released and 

he was last seen singing up a

storm as he let go… sanctified, soaring somewhere. 

Paradise? Some say 

he was finally getting it right

……JF Sobecki

Autumn Poem

In the last jovial, clear-sky days of autumn
the mockingbird
in his monk-gray coat
and his arrowy wings

flies
from the hedge to the top of the pine
and begins to sing — but it's neither loose, nor lilting, nor lovely — 

it's more like whistles and truck brakes and dry hinges.
All birds are birds of heaven
but this one, especially, adores the earth so well
he would imitate, for half the day and on into the
evening, 

its ticks and wheezings,
and so I have to wait a long time
for the soft, true voice
of his own glossy life

to come through,
and of course I do.
I don't know what it is that makes him, finally, look
inward 

to the sweet spring of himself, that mirror of heaven,
but when it happens —
when he lifts his head
and the feathers of his throat tremble, 

and he begins, like Saint Francis,
little flutterings and leapings from the pine's forelock,
resettling his strong feet each time among the branches,
I am recalled, 

from so many wrong paths I can't count them,
simply to stand, and listen.
All my life I have lived in a kind of haste and darkness
of desire, ambition, accomplishment. 

Now the bird is singing, but not anymore of this world.
And something inside myself is fluttering and leaping, is
trying 

to type it down, in lumped-up language,
in outcry, in patience, in music, in a snow-white book.

 - Mary Oliver

Free as a Bird - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/ODIvONHPqpk

Head full of doubt /Road full of Promise - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/lGuqjNRmzvg

Great Big Love - Bruce Cockburn

https://youtu.be/ALy65QqM348

Lost On The River - New Lost Basement Tapes ( E. Costello 

https://youtu.be/fDwx_tFfSGw

Can’t Find  My Way Back Home- R. Price ( S. Winwood )

https://youtu.be/1xZxxVlu7BM

Days Gone By - V. Morrison

https://youtu.be/WpJ1WbHP5DQ

Let It Be - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/QDYfEBY9NM4

Amdg

Dedicated to the  family , friends and all those I met and will meet along the way.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC