Second Chance Dance: Joan Baez

Showing posts with label Joan Baez. Show all posts

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Contata

Bansky

"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 would. 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

"Hope is the gateway to contemplation, because contemplation is an experience

of divine things and we cannot experience what we do not some way possess."

- Thomas Merton

" How can one expect others to pick themselves by their bootstraps

when these others don't even have shoes or boots?"

- B.H.

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

Contata

Sweet starlings' pre-dawn cantata:

Soft sanctifying soothing Songs of Songs

Solo chime the holy Divine metronome

Perfect time no doubt,

For any ears who hear .

Slow rising mother sun

Illuminates all aspects of creation

Warming wandering weary spirits ,

Searching hearts consoled with the hope.

Hope for compassion,

Hope for true serenity,

Hope for the healing ,

Prayers , unified exhale, making room

For mercy and redemption

In the pastoral cathedral of paradise .

Words of wisdom waft with in the wind..

No thing is here to be on its own.

Every thing , every one is interconnected.

The consolation of harmony is present as a

Mystical thread holds this patchwork together creating

One magnificent symphony in disguise.

There is not one atom, musical note or aspect of existence

Unaccounted for without holy purpose .

Yet refugees , in murmurations and

Desperate caravans seek safe harbors.

Marginalized immigrants and deportees

Unite with the poorest of the poor

Chanting mantra supplicates for daily bread.

Meanwhile passerine politely peck for food.

Weary hearts lay down

Hoping for comfort and consolation.

Hoping for that second chance.

Hoping for a helping hand.

Remembering how the great teacher on the mount

Nourished and nurtured "any and all" who came in hope.

Rivers seem to flow forever,

Currents carrying vessels. pilgrims , flotsam and jetsam

Without judgement

to that unchartered sea of mercy.

Navigation dictated by faith,

Hoping for salvation,

Hoping for the perfect love, and

Hoping for the grace.

Seeking the most sacred grail

Letting go led by the Paraclete's hymn.

Players on fields of dreams comprehend

That it is how you play ....

That transforms the blessed game into

The true promised land.

Coaches pontificate "leave it all on the field"-

Living radical compassion ,

Adding selfless generosity ,

Blended with constant unconditional love

And kindness with a true genuine response.

Listening , great collaboration

Hope to let go and be .

Hoping to remember to remember.

Hoping in gratitude with humility

Connecting with the chorus of

Authentic blessed voices in song.

- JF Sobecki

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

Friends Meeting House Little Egg Harbor

Mindwalk 1990

https://youtu.be/BW9Os6nhCKM

Game Called - Grantland Rice

https://youtu.be/NbN5Q-Na66U

Field of Dreams - Ending

https://youtu.be/lXjz-M_6eN8

Everybody ought to treat a Stranger Right - Ry Cooder

https://youtu.be/CbQ83HM8C_A

Lay Down Your Weary Tune

https://youtu.be/PU_V75GVfdA

Hard TimesCome Again No More - J.Taylor/Yo Yo Ma

https://youtu.be/3P9X_o_FMHc

Deporte - Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Emmy Lou Harris

https://youtu.be/CrGxHImg8Gw

amdg

A Contata Coda: Just sing along with the chorus for each song below!

You Got the Love - The Retrosettes Sister Band

https://youtu.be/vANd9o22j5Y

Lean On Me - Bill Withers

https://youtu.be/qkaexjc-1os

Just One Victory - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/jitktxIuMOw

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Testimony - Three Stories of Formation

“I believe , help my unbelief”

- Mark 9:24

“ Why are you terrified,O you of little faith?”

- Matthew 8:26

Testimony

In one of those vulnerable moments he

Shared three stories with his almost lifelong traveller

Once an old salt counseled the novice sailor

“ If you fear the wind, the waves and believe

You are about to lose control of your vessel

You are probably right. If the boat seems to be

Vigorously bouncing to the left and then

Just as fiercely to the right.

Sometimes there is one essential simple remedy

For a quick fix…

Stay calm and let go .

If your boat is balanced she steady herself
And will head up wind.”

He also recalled that one fateful

Flying lesson of "power off stalls.”

His flying mentor had him

Point the nose of the Cessna up gradually .

As the voyager slowed the speed of the plane

In that split without warning second

A screeching horn from nowhere

filled the cockpit.

Just a quickly the plane began

A free fall with the tail pointing earthward.

Faster, faster she fell from the heavens.

The mentor repeated that quite frequented lesson

“Give her full throttle and push down on the stick

Pointing nose downward with a calm and deliberate manner.”

The voyager thought
"Are you Crazy?” As he

Followed the instruction without question.

The almost tree top flyer found his plane

Gaining speed as the plane's nose moved upward

Where he leveled her off.

The flying mentor asked

“Is your underwear dry?”

“Yes,” exhaled to dry mouthed pilot.

“Good” the instructor said and smiled saying,

“Do it again.”

Then there was the occasion

When then voyager felt he needed a retreat,

At a safe harbor .

His spiritual guide would provide

Words of wisdom to ponder in silence

As the voyager would meander the pastoral

Sacred grounds of the safe harbor.

After a few days of wandering

The voyager met with the guide

Informing him,”I am not getting it.Nothing is happening.

I need to leave.”

Guide responded , “ The problem is…

You are trying to ‘make a retreat’ and not allowing

The retreat to make you. Go for your walk but with no agenda, Nothing on your mind to consider. Just be present and let go.”

As the sun began to say her daily farewell

The pilgrim slowly strolled the grounds puffing

On his trusty cigar. Without warning and in complete surprise

He found himself surrounded by five local deer.

They all stood in silence staring solemnly at each other.

Telepathically the deer seemed to whisper to the pilgrim,

“Why do you walk in fear? Don’t you know we are safe

And that this is Holy Ground?” Just like that the deer were gone.

Filled with excitement the voyager raced to find his guide.

Upon finding the spiritual master the voyager explained in detail the occurrence.

The guide looked at the the excited exhausted young man nonchalantly

And said “ That is nice. You know the deer are always there but you were too busy , worried and preoccupied to be present and see them. When you let go the sacred truth becomes obvious.”

He sadly concluded his stories and explained with dismay that he no longer had a trusted mentor or master teacher to guide him through the endless maze and at times the flame of fear seemed as though it was about to resurface . The yellow brick road had faded , his own teachers and mentors had also faded to be distant spirits to remember. The co-traveller smiled and suggested, “There comes a time when the student must become the teacher and allow those seeds learned to flourish by letting go and continuing the Odyssey with faith.”

———————————————————————————-

“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.”

- Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson

FAITH

I want to write about faith,

about the way the moon rises

over cold snow, night after night,

faithful even as it fades from fullness,

slowly becoming that last curving and impossible

sliver of light before the final darkness.

But I have no faith myself,

I refuse it the smallest entry.

Let this then, my small poem,

like a new moon, slender and barely open

be the first prayer that opens me to faith.

- David Whyte

from "River Flow: New & Selected Poems"

God Is God - Joan Baez ( S. Earle)

https://youtu.be/Sx9Tkbs3GOY

Love and Mercy - Brian Wilson

https://youtu.be/1k_ffl3ZM2s

Dream Big - N. Lofgren

https://youtu.be/wpytyf_N69c

Harbor of Love - Ry Cooder

https://youtu.be/LTLIwUoC7s4

The Healing Game - Van Morrison

https://youtu.be/q4rAP-KAOgQ

Western Stars - B. Springsteen

https://youtu.be/_IXzAAKrsFE

amdg

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