Tag: Presence

Being wholly present with what is.

Star Gazer

Posted on by H. Hennenburg
Image of Stargazer Lily at night illustrating poem titled Star Gazer by H. Hennenburg
Image by H. Hennenburg

It was September when I brought home these uncommonly dark, richly coloured Stargazers. Within days, the blooms were gone. I planted the bulbs in the garden, and all winter I waited.

The lilies became a symbol for my own internal transitions. Unidentified potential skulking about in me. Restless and impatient with containment, angry and eager to burst. Bruised by the longing to be.

And at the same time, a growing sense of all that is alive in the universe that we do not see. Reading about experiments in physics demonstrating that light is sentient and, in its way, senses us. Waits in its own state of potential for us to choose and take part in the co-creation of what is and what will be.

Star Gazer

Stargazer
Underground
Earthbound
Potential seething
Awaiting warmth of sun
Churning deep plum
Like a bruise

Star
Gazing down
A cold and soundless
Observer
Waiting with hint of light
For scent of night
Alive with bloom

© H. Hennenburg, 6 April 2019

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The Art Of Touching You

Posted on by H. Hennenburg
Image by Marc-Olivier Jodoin illustrating poem titled The Art Of Touching You by H. Hennenburg
Image by Marc-Olivier Jodoin

I am often grappling with the uneasy coexistence of absolute oneness and the seeming separation imposed by being in a physical body and of an individual mind – the condition of being an earthling, as it were. Here, the antidote to existential loneliness is an acceptance of a connection that is not knowable through my physical senses – a real surrender to my own beliefs. Physical touch is so much easier, yet this other kind of connection is so much bigger. But how do we live that kind of connection in our day-to-day physical world? We have to reach out our hands, answers my intuition. She gives no further instructions.

The Art Of Touching You

Telescope to the sky
A tingling darkness rises within
Shaping me tenderly
Resonating with things too far or too close for the eye to see
Things to be known instinctively

I sit alone with the universe
Embodying its great infinity
Contemplating the boundlessness
And the borders we impose
Intersecting at nowhere

And it is here that I laugh again
Because you are so close
That I can feel and know and love you
You are in my very own particles
And yet you are uniquely apart, as am I

But the art of touching you
This is the quest for which I turn to the telescope
The finer details eluding me
Out there we intersect, you and I,
At every point imagined and unimaginable

Here, I lie back and open my soul
To the immensity of that truth
My cosmology defining nothing while explaining everything at once
In this vast darkness swirling immeasurable light, I surrender and repose my longing
And reach out my hand and accept that you are here

© H. Hennenburg, 30 January 2007

Joyfully linking to Poets United.

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Weather

Posted on by H. Hennenburg
Image by Pezibear illsutrating poem titled Weather by H. Hennenburg
Image by Pezibear

Weather or not
I stand
I hold to my nature
I embrace her presence
Weather or not
She is swayed
And bent
And occasionally splintered
Because we all change form
Weather or not
We persevere
We keep trying
Though the general atmosphere
Is prying at our spirit
Let love reign to the last
Weather or not

© H. Hennenburg, 10 July 2019

Posted for the fine folks at Poets United for the Midweek Motif: weather.

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Hope Is Not Passive

Posted on by H. Hennenburg
Image by Billy Black illustrating prose titled Hope Is Not Passive by H. Hennenburg
Image by Billy Black

I hear a lot of talk about the state of the world. Often, I hear statements that begin with vision and understanding and shift quickly into sentences starting with, “but sadly… .” I hear a lot of voices filled with resignation saying “I hope… .” The implication being “I hope I’m wrong about where all this is headed.” This is not hope.

Hope is not passive.

Hope is not waiting to see what will happen. Hope is not about outcomes. Hope is making choices. Hope is choosing what you do with your thoughts, where you focus your attention, what you do in response to the challenges in your world. Hope is not passive.

Hope is investing in life. Showing up. Being here – for however long you get to be here. You wonder sometimes, “is there any hope for us, for our world?” You are our hope. Be here! I am our hope. Stand with me! All we have to do is show up, see ourselves in each other and choose accordingly.

© H. Hennenburg, 3 July 2019

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Look

Posted on by H. Hennenburg
Image by cocoparisienne illustrating the poem titled Look by H. Hennenburg
Image by cocoparisienne

Look beyond your stories
Your imaginings
Your interpretations of events
Look beyond what you think they see
When they look at you
Look for something new
Carry your ghosts
behind enemy lines
And drop them there
Look beyond human shame and indignation
And limitations of birth and time
Look beyond what you think you see
When you look in the mirror
Look for something true
Look for questions, not answers
Reality is in the possibilities
Not in that which has already been named
Forget what you know
You are here now
Even if all the world is a step behind you
You have a right to see

© H. Hennenburg, 26 April 2019

Joyfully linking to dVerse Poets Pub.

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