Links to stream on all of the major music platforms are on the Sharanam Records website.
May all beings everywhere live in peace and joy.
Any More
It’s a feeling
not quite like depression
not quite like longing
not quite like nostalgia
Not lethargy
nor anxiety
nor wistfulness
Quiet
Still
Distant
Neither pleasant nor
especially unpleasant
Anticipation
Anticipating
Oblivion
Is there any more yet to do?
Watching
It may seem as though we’ve advanced
We bring all of life’s
big rich pageant
to our
little screens
But some days I feel like
we’re all just
watching ourselves burn
on
YouTube
Surfers of Bali
Urchin girl walks
with dog
Sun drenched boys
warm up and stretch
resolute
dutiful
on the wet sand
Big round muscular
bottoms
paddle to the
lineup
Set as thumbnails
to draw
your click
Wave after
Wave after
Wave
Blue Sky
What if I were to
only follow poets
How would that set
things spinning
Do they make an algorithm
for the soul
Would I miss the
Wall Street Journal
When All Else Lost
Finding it somewhat
easier not to fly
into rage when the dog
soils in the kitchen
or circles endlessly
evenings in the yard
This is at least something
Sonnet 5
Ninety-Nine and Forty-Four
While planting garden, very few will opt
To set aside space for a weedy spot
We till and tidy to keep the weeds out
Leaving greens and cascades of color popped
A stagnant pool into which leaves have dropped
Becomes a stinking brew of filth and rot
A consciousness into which anger’s brought
Becomes a life from which love’s flow is stopped
To seek the undiluted truth today
To focus without distraction on AUM
Welcoming beauty, calm and all good gifts
In unadulterated purity
Attention ever inward flowing on
Thought, word and deed aligned, and naught amiss
Sonnet 4
Everything Comes and Goes Except the Truth
The rich young man asked what else he need do
To which the Master replied “One thing more:
Come with me, once you give all to the poor.”
He went away sad. He could not let go.
The Master sent forth the seventy-two
To heal and to preach. He said don’t prepare
Provisions will come from God’s ample store
Take no gold nor extra clothing with you
How much baggage do I carry around?
How much do I cling to things material?
Thinking I am who I think that I am
Like Chinese fingercuffs keeping me bound
Patterns of grasping, deep, emotional
To loosen the grip: Satya Hai Ram Naam
Sonnet 3
Unconscious Cleptomania
We believe that we would never steal and
Look with no mercy on any who do
But we go grabbing for anything new
Always scrolling for a great new deal and
Nevermind the child who toils at the wheel and
Endless insatiable desires pursue
We believe we own all in our purview
Yet today we live on unceded land
Can we turn from consumption? Theft? Disgrace?
That which failure to trust God evinces?
You can never get enough of those things
You didn’t really want in the first place
So pine not for objects of the senses
We have all we need – all good gifts He brings
Sonnet 2
The Way of Light
As grime upon a looking glass obscures,
The patterns of conditioned mind conceal
The fundamental truth of what is real
And to the consciousness falsehood inures
Distortion both profound and slight occurs
Without which would the clearer light reveal
A way to live serene and more ideal
The Path Eternal victory assures
I shall polish the mirror of my heart
With the dust of my Guru’s lotus feet
Shall sing the names of God who shelters me
Shall keep my word without pretense or art
Shall walk the Way of Light with no retreat
Shall know the truth and it shall make me free