Spring Murmurations of The Heart

         

 "The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, 

and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love 

only the reflection\n of ourselves we find in them."

       - Thomas Merton

                                   

                                                 Ok one more time...

Did I mention I gave up worrying for Lent?

....................

                                                                

Spring Murmuration of the Heart

The Cape's Bird Man outlined

The chapters of his forthcoming book,

Of how trench warfare of words and attitudes

Grows deeper and more adverse

Between the right and left 

Leaving the marginalized drowning in the wake.

Yet , he observes how birds come and go faster than people

And how they don't act worried.

Even the the Great Teacher observed how sparrows and other 

Winged messengers don't seem overly concerned 

As somehow they know they are loved.

They say it is instinct for starlings to fly in murmurations ,

Communal constructing of complex spectacles 

Swirling in seemingly aimless wild group flight.

Their secret mission is their common welfare, their communal preservation,

Their collective love and mutual selflessness in unison.

Iconoclastic stragglers and prodigals become vulnerable

To hungry hawks and those mischaracterized predatory eagles.

Other feathered paracletes mimic the starlings .

Who did it first is not of concern nor competition.

Meanwhile sentient beings have possibly devolved to be more lost by being locked down

And  continue less concerned about who really inherited the earth or the wind.

Starlings and most likely most of the divine's creatures may not worry about

Or miss the absence and demise of humans . Many of the Homo Sapiens really

Don't seem to care much about the common good....

Hiding in their own nests, filling them up with this or that.

Or maybe, just maybe these two legged creations forgot their own murmuration

Or maybe they just don't love themselves or each other 

As much as they say they do or

As much as the poets and mystics speculate.

    - JF Sobecki

__________________

What the World Need Now - Jackie DeShannon 

This song is still quite relevant

https://youtu.be/YUaxVQPohlU

Give me Love - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/s-KAvPbO8JY

What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding - N. Lowe

https://youtu.be/Oy3LpV0THB0

Change Myself - T. Rundgren

https://youtu.be/dCU4P5EQNFs

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

https://youtu.be/IgRrWPdzkao

Quote from "The Princess Bride" - Mandy Patinkin

https://youtu.be/s_t3uDVPiRc

                                                            Family Promise - LINK below

                                                         https://familypromise.org

                                                Habitat for Humanity - Link below

                                                          https://www.habitat.org

amdg

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

"The Love you take is equal to the love you make"

 - Lennon and McCartney

Flow Like a River

 "You don't push a river it flows by itself."

             - Chinese Proverb

"Become the river."

  - Fritz Perls

"Perhaps the best river runners are Taoists at heart. Taoism considers someone wise

if they accommodate  themselves to the rhythms of the universe."

 - C. Norment

-----

Where Many Rivers Meet

All the water below me came from above

All the clouds living in the mountains

gave it to the rivers,

who gave it to the sea, which was their dying.

And so I float on cloud become water,

central sea surrounded by white mountains,

the water salt, once fresh,

cloud fall and stream rush , tree roots and tide bank

leading to the rivers' mouths

and the mouths of the rivers sing into the sea

the stories buried in the mountains

give out into the sea

and the sea remembers

and sings back

from the depths

where nothing is forgotten.

- David Whyte

-----

River

The river is my savior

She's running to the sea

And to reach her destination

is to simply cease to be

And running 'til you're nothing

Sounds a lot like being free

So "ll lay myself inside her

And I'll let her carry me.

- River  J. Isbell

----

-------

Canto Paradiso 2021 : "Flow like a River"

Perchance things work out the way they are supposed to in the end

Maybe if Dante's ghost knew this he could cease his twilight meandering.

Maybe he was never attentive to the rain 

Or admired the rivers as closely as he should.

Paradise is not across some finish-line

Where numbered runners gather aimlessly standing.

Desert fathers may have been the first to see

Eden is ever-present in the water.

Some say that the Divine was in the water first,

(Before any other thing was)

Her flow, her nourishment, her life giving force,

Her home to creatures who first made her their home,

Her sanctifying baptismal blessing, her welcome to

Pilgrims who bathe or swim in her

Or just witness her majesty from the shoreline.

Without her runners would never run.

Without her sacramental sustenance no thing is.

Without her Ulysses would never have inspired our own pilgrimage.

She knows her own purpose and abides without doubt

Sentient beings lose sight of her holiness

Taking her for granted while trying to control her,

There are pilgrims though who seem to  have been born 

With heart tattoos , reading 

"You don't push a river, it flows by itself. "

They are possibly the illuminated seekers 

Aware that one is always precisely where one needs to be,

Their trust , their faith in the hidden hands,

They fall freely into the generous waters of a eternal life.

Troubadours sing solemnly about the water,

Poets alliterate words of searching souls seeking salvation,

Persistent right minded teachers reach out

To any drowning student of Blake .

"Let go, let go"  greek choruses are heard imploring.

"The purpose of a river is to flow

Emptying herself into a majestic ocean of  mercy."

The old pre-Homeric myths promulgated

Truer stories as true that can ever be told.

Whispering wind voice wistfully whips through the trees

Sanctifying all she touches, saying for ears who chose to hear

"Rivers flow and the sea she waits.

Become the river, let the gift of the bliss carry you."

    - JF Sobecki

-------

Crossing Otter Creek

August sun warms the eddy

Swirling lonely lost feather

Drifting up and downstream

Shadows of hay bales

Guarding muddied banks

on Old Trinity Farm

Faithfully silently waiting

A final harvest 

Before the snow

Hand in hand

the two wade

Stone to random stone

one breath

One beat of a heart

separating the now

from home.

- JF Sobecki (1990)

-----

River Songs

Let It Flow - D. Mason

https://youtu.be/illeTgLbowg

River - Jason Isbell

https://youtu.be/p5bathZEbNU

The Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds

https://youtu.be/gKQ0F37LhpM

Take Me to the River - A. Green

https://youtu.be/vGD8aQ2GKr0

Deep River Blues - T. Emmanuel

https://youtu.be/5GE6NeWlFHg

 Bliss and Flow

Bliss - Joseph Campbell

https://youtu.be/s28rwnz18j4

Flow TedTalk - M. Csiksczentmihalyi

https://youtu.be/I_u-Eh3h7Mo

Allen McQuarrie R.I.P.

The First River Runner Who taught me

to "flow"

Lawrence Ferlinghetti R.I.P. 

Thank you for giving us your words which are your rivers 

AMDG

Copyright 2021 JF Sobecki LLC All Rights Reserved

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry 

because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with 

passion. And medicine , law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and

necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

      - Dead Poets Society

The Ballad of The Wolf Moon 2021: ( A Post Covid 19 Reflection)

The Wolf Moon 2021

"I heave myself out of the darkness , slowly painfully. And there I am , and there he is."

       - Jean Rhys

"Goodnight room

Goodnight moon

Goodnight cow jumping over the moon."

- Margaret Wise Brown

"...Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide

The fortune telling lady has taken all her things inside

All except for Cain and Abel and the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love or else expecting rain

And the Good Samaritan , he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show

He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row."

 - Desolation Row, Bob Dylan

----------

 

The Ballad of The Wolf Moon 2021

 It was the first day of the new year

The pilgrim cowboy's lament sounded familiar

A wayfaring stranger's voice in the wilderness

Everything was supposed to be alright

But the changes continued the devastation

The truth it was told

It was bold, going home

No thing really ever lasts

That dreaded contagion deflated the two on their passage

Energy zapped and drained last dreams of deceiving hope

And the feared but expected news had come...

The immortal king was dead

In their quarantine left to their own devices

An isolation even they could not share

Where to go from here?

What is past is past, now is now, and that's that

The rough riders ready on call

The sacred dome under siege

The brown eyed girl and the pilgrim stared at the screen aghast in shock

That which was once forever might be left behind

The sister and the daughters,

Nightingales in deep disguise,

Bert and Ernie and that solo companion too

All on the road to a distant town called Emmaus

Lifelines cast in love

"You can't save another 

If you can't save yourself"

The mystic junkman of the backstreet singing, singing

The lost angelic choir's voices faded

Saying goodnight to the moon

No time for grandchildren playing 

The innocence of discovery lockdown

Their world has been cheated

Do they know what's been denied?

Does it really matter?

Do they care?

The only sound that can be heard

As the last string snaps as it is wound too tight

Is Cinderella and the pilgrim holding onto the sweet sound

Of that grace of what they once had found

Now there's a point to every story

This is what was Homer once wrote

Every life is a soul searching journey

With a secret divine treasure that might be discovered

Some lose faith on the way , Some just get lost in love

First responders watch for raging fires

The truth burning ever present

Where the eternal spark remains

Each decision has repercussions

The hobo soapbox preacher proposed

Not to decide is to decide

Redemption sometimes comes to to those who wait

Is profound eloquence poetry?

The billboard read "writing is knowing"

What do we know as we aimlessly dance along

On the yellow brick road to a  place called Disneyland?

Detectives probe with constant queries ...

Why one life lives a lifetime or why another is cut too short ?

The answers lie in the sacrament of connectedness

So goodnight moon

Until as the morning is again broken and the race returns.

 - JF Sobecki

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

Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens

https://youtu.be/3Rifby1tVE8

Wayfairing Stranger - 1917

https://youtu.be/fp7mdSMNQB0

Desolation Row - Bob Dylan

https://youtu.be/jJxtX8M4UVU

Right Back Where we started from - Maxine Nightingale

https://youtu.be/1gbFfLeHNA4

Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

https://youtu.be/FTj92GpQABQ

One - H. Nilsson

https://youtu.be/haT8g7oKnns

You Make Me feel So Good

https://youtu.be/ZlnV21PU31s

New York City Serenade - B. Springsteen

https://youtu.be/8EooiBaW1BA

Enjoy Yourself - L. Prima

https://youtu.be/kisr3daNRx0

Midnight Sky - Trailer

https://youtu.be/lwaYSBEiEzs

                                                                 Anton Oliver ( w Otis)

amdg

Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

The Mutineer’s New Year Lament

“ For Last Year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.”

- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Mind-ful-ness

1. The quality of state of being conscious or aware of something
2. The mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present movement , while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings , thoughts, and sensations, used as a therapeutic technique

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

The Mutineer’s New Year Lament

Forty some odd days into 2020

The mutineer pilgrim and his witness

Commenced on another leg of their journey.

Suddenly without notice or expectation

A distracted traveller squashed into their vessel

Shoving the two into oncoming traffic.

Somehow they survived by a aid of a greater hand

And not mindful they gathered up their baggage to re-continue

Unaware everything was changing.

The mutineer was aware he was born

To be a boat rocker and how

It is said that the trick for a helmsman sailing rough seas

Is to let go of the tiller ( wheel) 

And the boat will somehow right herself.

An old teacher counseled that life is how we are present

And respond to people, events and situations.

But, how is it that migrating birds really know 

Where to precisely go and when?

What of the gliding solo feathered friend?

Is she aimless or is there a true purpose

To her taking advantage of the uplifting wind?

Isn’t the answer of “it’s instinct” to these questions really an excuse that

Homo sapiens really do not understand how the universe works?

No thing stays the same.

No thing brings peace .

All things pass.

The present will be past

And what is next will be present, then past

And on and on until that which is 

Will be no more.

A reclusive monk whispered

“ Your problem is not the problem,

Your reaction is the problem.

Attach yourself to no thing.”

It is said institutions of all sizes and purpose

Attempt to initiate constructs

To control how pilgrims stay within the lines

Assuring some semblance of societal order.

Artificial propositions and musings

Propose the prospect of reward or success for 

Accumulating things and behaving 

According to the design of others

Are really not important to any other part of creation.

The exception , Lonely sapiens,

Trying with every breath to make sense of every thing

Believing that plans will get them what they need and 

Where they need to be.

Meanwhile the mutineer pilgrim and the witness continue 

Their meditations on the flight of the sacred soarers of the skies -

Being , loving , peacefulness and authenticity 

As these are what matter in the end,

As they sail on… to peace, the divine…

             into the new year.

- JF Sobecki

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

A Few songs for mutineers and pilgrims

Mutineer - Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires ( W. Zevon)

https://youtu.be/PWuWmANBfJw

Peace Divine - Jackson Browne ( L. Songberg)

https://youtu.be/otGe9hmFDpU

All Things Must Pass - George Harrison

https://youtu.be/QWV4pFV5nX4

Love and Mercy - Jeff Tweedy ( B. Wilson)

https://youtu.be/m6LmXDEs9do

 

Sail On - Mary Black (D. Gaughin)

https://youtu.be/zv113_HGT60

 

Dedicated to the real heroes

Recalculate, Recalculate - 

-JF Sobecki(D. Arn and JF Sobecki)

https://youtu.be/Jt887qhi99Q

 

Amdg

Copyright 2021 All Rights reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Adventus Lauds

" ...Now darkness only stays the nighttime

In the morning it will fade away.

Daylight is good at arriving at the right time 

It's not always going to be this gray..."

- All Things Must Pass , G. Harrison

Merton Christmas Prayer

 Into this world, this demented inn

in which there is no room for him at all,

But because he cannot be at home in it,

because he is out of place in it

and yet he must be in it,

His place is with those who do not belong, 

who are rejected by power because

they are regarded as weak,

those who are discredited,

who are denied status of persons.

who are tortured, bombed and exterminated

with those for whom there is no room,

Christ is present in this world.

- Thomas Merton

The Holy Longing

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent

because the mass man will mock it right away.

I praise what is truly Alive.

What longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,

where you were begotten, where you have begotten,

a strange feeling comes over you,

when you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught in the obsession with darkness,

and a desire for higher love-making sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter.

Now, in arriving in magic, flying.

and finally insane for the light,

you are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,

you are a troubled guest on the dark earth.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Robert Bly

Let the Angels sing

"PEACE ON EARTH GOOD WILL TO MEN"

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

 Adventus Lauds

So in this time of waiting;

Pandemic never ending, elections denied -

No lives seem to matter,

The pilgrim pondered,

"Are not all gifts blessings and

all blessings gifts and if this is not true

how does any of this matter?

Is not all creation a gift of unconditional love

to live in total love , peace and hope?"

The usual suspect's father once confided

"Blessed are the peacemakers as they 

shall see God first."

The sherpa quietly packed the bags

for the journey with a mantra

that he would only instruct

the novice pilgrims in the ways of peace.

Do you ever wonder from what seed was narcissism, greed and violence born?

Were we not to share everything for the common welfare

of all creation?

Is the creed such that sentient beings are gifted breath 

and life to only benefit themselves?

As so with every ending comes a new beginning.

The ashes of the recent passage

leads to the spark ever-present that we rekindle

deep within the mystery of our own souls

where the common DNA found in the great teacher

illuminates again with hope, light , peace, compassion , mercy and love.

- JF Sobecki

..................

Journey of the Magi - TS Eliot ( read by Hugh Laurie)

https://youtu.be/qyas4QpWM-E

Seasons Best Ad ( Message)

https://youtu.be/6PH88aAL7hU

Getting Ready - P. Simon

https://youtu.be/5Q_y4IqeQe8

The Cry of a Tiny Babe - B. Cockburn

https://youtu.be/YmZlYiMCvSc

Do They Know It's Christmas

https://youtu.be/bjQzJAKxTrE

The True Meaning of Christmas Charlie Brown

https://youtu.be/sOofCTbv96s

Live Peace- Teach Peace - Be Peace- Colman McCarthy

https://youtu.be/d6oc9nd_o7k

For RELIGIOUS FANATICS ONLY - Charlie Brown Story

Charlie Brown asked Lucy why she was so happy. Lucy explained how it was "Christmas" and explained further that this was the time of year to "spread joy, caring, compassion, giving, peace and love."

Charlie Brown wondered to Lucy "Why do we do these things at "Christmastime" and why can't we do these things and be that way all year round?"Lucy yelled at Charlie Brown , "What are you some type of religious fanatic?"

Now sit back relax and watch the full film version of"Scrooge" with Alistair Sim ( 1951)

"Business" cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again."Mankind was my business.The common welfare was my business: charity, mercy, forebearance and benevolence, were all my business.The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business"

    - The Ghost of Jacob Marley, A Christmas Carole , C, Dickens

                

                                               https://youtu.be/cm4780aYfaw

Hope you are all safe and well.

Merry Peace-filled Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

The Dream of One Fine Day

"But the effect of her being those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric act; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully, a hidden life , and rest in unlisted tombs."

                      - George Eliot -  last quote in the film "The Hidden Life" by Terrence Malick

 " If God gives us free will we are responsible for what we do and what we fail to do, aren't we?"

                                                                - F. Jagerstatter

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

Trick Or Treat : The Dream of One Fine Day

And there the pilgrim was again

On the road to nowhere

It seemed like a place he had been

At least 71 times before.

Or was it 72 , 25 or a dream loop?

He was growing tired of keeping count.

Mitchell's carousel of time

Was picking up speed.

Well, something was going faster.

The virus had hit the fan

And yet the so called deniers 

Were keeping the grave count low

As if to say "hope is found by avoiding the truth."

They asked "What are the Wokes smoking?"

Were they all ignorant of the global caste system

And that no one sentient being is worth more or

More privileged than another?

The demons of the seasonal exercise of elections

Had reared their ugly heads again

Promulgating myths and false promises

Forcing the lost sheep to choose one side or the other

While multiple paths remain unexplored.

The Good Shepherd watched disheartened

From the bleachers.

A tattered banner hanging by a thread read,

"Vote for the wrong candidate and all hope is gone!"

Yet, on this feast of the All Hallows,

The Eve of All Saints and the 

Eve of the Eve of All souls

It was either "Trick or Treat."

This prodigal pilgrim's mask frayed and tattered

He sacramentally opened a favorite

Consecrated chocolate bar anticipating the 

Magnificent sweetness of redemption and blessedness.

As he prepared himself for this communion -

Eyes closed and bowed head solemnly 

A small piece of paper

Mystically slide out from the candy's wrapper.

( on it a revelatory message)

"When we look in the eyes of our children

and hopefully that day when we do the same with our grandchildren

do each of them know the depth and substance of our unconditional love?

Do they realize we do not expect anything in return?

There is no expectation for adoration for our desire for their continued well being, peace and love.

Truth in love is given freely and completely.

It is the way with our spouse , dearest friends and the way of the universe.

Do we stop loving others when the night falls upon them

or the unexpected storms sweep across our world as we experience it ?

The teacher once suggested that "When another's peace and happiness is your

peace and happiness- that is love."

And added for good measure "When we desire peace and love for those who do

not know peace and love - that too is love."

Remember desire is a term longing for what the heaven's bring - 

"de sidere" "de sire"( of the father )

[A strong impulse for something deep inside you to flourish.] 

Love is everywhere all times isn't it?

Desire love and know when you feel alone you are loved,

When hope seems a fantasy ...you are loved.

If you ever feel undeserved know you are loved and always will be.

One Fine day you will know "

Somehow the chocolate bar tasted sweeter and it everything was perfect for this moment .

   - JF Sobecki

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

Note: If you do not see the song YouTube click the link.

One Fine Day - D. Byrne

https://youtu.be/JvlT5fBIi4U

Show them the Way - Stevie Nicks

https://youtu.be/-hsNZXe3r50

Making Do - Lake Street Dive

https://youtu.be/bs4dR4YjGPg

After The Goldrush -Harris, Rondstadt and Parton

https://youtu.be/o2XcBL6kWn8

Robin or Wren - J. Tweedy

https://youtu.be/UmETdNhQgU0

One more from David Byrne

On the Road to Nowhere- D. Byrne

https://youtu.be/Dz1fl6u8ut0

Jerry Jeff Walker who influenced me finding my own voice

Passed recently....my way of saying "Thank you." Rest In Peace

Night Riders Lament - ( still pertinent)- Jerry Jeff Walker

https://youtu.be/f7xw1Q7hwco

Mr Bojangles - Jerry Jeff

https://youtu.be/mDoeUz8vExY

amdg

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

A Reflection on Now Experiment -10/1/20 0230

                                        

       

     (an experiment in being mindful and preset)

"Time passes quickly. The past cannot be clung to , the future cannot be foreseen. We must do good in the present moment and not concern ourselves with useless things." - M. Ricci

"Presence has no measurable product except positive feelings, feelings of support , intimacy, and happiness. When we stop being busy and productive switch to just being still and aware, we ourselves will also feel support, intimacy, and happiness, even if no one else is around."

- Jan Chozen Bays, "The Gift of Waiting"

------

A Reflection on Now - 10/1/20 0230

While mindlessly wandering and

Meditating wayward falling leaves

That recurring whisper became clear,

"The greatest gift

On can give another is our time."

Some say the jester called out 

"If the now is called 'the present'

Why can't we ever keep it?"

And that balding revolutionary read aloud

""What good ca I do today?"

Companions of the soldier saint

Suggest an examen everyday.

Their words keep "flowing like rain from a paper cup*"

(And the hits keep comimg)

Songs of the Troubadours seeking answers

Carrying by that wandering wind and

Elijah proclaiming it comes from

the lost cave of God.

Simon's sacred angels seek believers.

'It is the journey

That matters ,right?"

As the mysteries of centuries is revealed

Each road a river and each river a road

Lead thirsting pilgrims

To that sacred sea 

With each breath and beat of the heart 

"Here and Now...Here and Now" 

- JF Sobecki

--------

A short playlist for now 

("No image ? Click on link)

Be Here Now - George Harrison

https://youtu.be/7Pc2tfmuWwU

The Circle Game - Tom Rush (J Mitchell)

https://youtu.be/dURdp9tXa6k

 

Across The Universe -The Beatles

https://youtu.be/90M60PzmxEE

You Set the scene - Love

https://youtu.be/-N9kGKFIAQk

"This is time that I am living

And I'll face each day with a smile

For the time that I've been

Given's such a little while

And the things that I do consist

of more than style

And the things I must to

Consist of more than style

(There are places that I am going)

There'll be time for you to start all over.

AMDG

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC 

(Apologies for the formatting issues)