we, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight to liberate us into life.

love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.

yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.
we are weaned from our timidity
in the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
 and suddenly we see that love
costs all we are and will ever be.

yet it is only love
which sets us free.

de pimpelmeesjes zijn uitgevlogen:
voorzichtig, vrij de ruimte in

waar is mijn speelse onbevangenheid
om onbezorgd en vrij in het leven te staan?

love

then there is the two of us - this word
is far too short for us, it has only
four letters, too sparse to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars that press on us with their deafness.

it's not love we don't wish to fall into, but that fear.
this word is not enough but it will have to do. it's a single
vowel in this metallic silence, a mouth that says
oh again and again in wonder and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside.

you can hold on or let go.

ware vriendschap overstijgt alle voorwaarden

in het delen

de
samenhorigheid
ontdekken

heel even maar
raak ik je aan,
wil ik verdwalen
in je spel.

mezelf niet tegenkomen
tenzij onherkenbaar trouw;
mezelf omgorden
met je lichte lenden.

en over de deining
van je woorden stappen
als was het
breekbaar water.

het licht van de grote oostelijke zon schijnt over alle wezens......

en ik heb weer een paar heel lieve exemplaren ontmoet
of.... hoe een weekend deugd kan doen

silence, they say, is the voice of complicity

but silence is impossible
silence screams
silence is a message,
just as doing nothing is an act.

let who you are ring out and resonate
in every word and every deed
yes, become who you are
there is no sidestepping your own being
or your own responsibility.

what you do is who you are
you are your own comeuppance
you become your own message.

you are the message.

may the great spirit make sunrise in your heart . . .
hoka hey!

One friend
in a lifetime
is much;

two are many;

three are hardly possible.

The Education of Henry Adams

you don't survive in me
because of memories;
nor are you mine because
of a lovely longing's strength.

what does make you present
is the ardent detour
that a slow tenderness
traces in my blood.

I do not need
to see you appear;
being born sufficed for me
to lose you a little less.

je hoeft geen spijt te hebben
van wat je ooit hebt gedaan

wat je overkwam,
alle vergissingen inbegrepen,
is wat je nu bent.


 

ik ga mijn eigen weg
niet de weg van de ander

maar mijn eigen weg gaan
hoeft de ander niet uit te sluiten

dat is de kunst van het samengaan
en elke kunst vergt oefening

we hebben alles wat we nodig hebben - 

de mogelijkheid om iedere dag
aan het tapijt van geluk te knopen
met de naald en draad
van onze eigen geest.