Poetry

Time to Get Up the Bus is Leaving
by Robert K. Hall, M.D.

So do we really think we can stay
the way we are, just trailing off casually
in thoughts and random musings
about life while time eats us like
food for eternity?

Can we really do that and never notice
the difference between actually being here
and pondering existence as though it were
the plot for some novel in process?

Something must be done.
Somebody must wake up.
There's just too much pain in all this drifting.
Besides, the birds of prey are waiting.

They want us to be comatose
so we don't see their talons reaching
for our hearts until too late
the war has already started and we
are crouching in the trenches
hoping the smart bombs aren't that smart.

I don't see how we can all just keep on dreaming.
Something is coming hard.
Something is barreling down the channel
and when it hits, there will be no sleep.

But what will we wake up to?
I bet it won't be mama's sweet apple pie.

Getting Clear
by Robert K. Hall, M.D.

When you walk through a storm
keep your head up high
and don't be afraid of the dark.
That old song rings true today
just like when you enter that tension
in your neck and shoulders
thick dense energy holding
tissue hostage so nothing can move
in case there is danger out there
like there was once
when tears came and smallness was
tiny in such a big world
demons everywhere so we touch
the tongue to the roof of mouth
making humming noises for solace
magic keeps the bad things away
knowing now this is fear this is fear
old stuff locked away in the body
and now dissolving because we can
let go of the past watch it flutter
back into what no longer is while
a deep easy breath brings the present
and its moment of freedom light
leaving us quivering and grateful
for clear weather one more time.

Robert K. Hall, M.D., is cofounder of Lomi School and Lomi Psychotherapy Clinic and is on the Teacher's Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He now lives in Todos Santos, Mexico, where he leads residential meditation retreats through El Dharma (www.eldharma.com).

Between the Question and the Answer
by Joaquin Lopez

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