Category: Poems

Thoughts On Change

Happiness, Poems, Success

I wear prayer beads which are made from black volcanic rock. They remind me that even rock can become liquid, given the right circumstances. The lessons I take from these prayer beads are fourfold.

Firstly, change effects everything. You cannot step into the same river twice, because the water is different. Secondly, like the river and volcanic lava, circumstances dictate a lot of what happens, but flowing with change allows new opportunities. Thirdly, the essence of what makes the volcanic rock, has remained, from lava to rock to prayer beads. Fourthly, whether the rock is lava, rock or prayer beads, like all things, it still has purpose. Every atom has a purpose, every person has a purpose, every living being on this interconnected, living, breathing planet of ours has a purpose.

These thoughts remind me of a poem I wrote. Here it is:

Poem: Long Was The Summer Day

Poems
Summer days, long and lose, out wandering
The public footpath to the big woods, my friend
And I. We stopped at a small trickle of a stream
On a farmer's land, fenced off from the path.
Brimming with youthful rebellion we
Jumped the wire fence and over the stream.
Hours passed as we built a small damn and 
Watched the sheep meander.
We claimed the land in our minds, just for the day.
We waived to the passers by,
Lawfully walking the path through 'our land.'
Long was the summer day, cool was the stream
As it slipped through our fingers and 
Over the tumbling damn. The day was ours to own,
Until the silent call to be home for Tea,
Our empty stomachs urging us homeward.
We jumped the fence back to reality and
The footpath home.

Poem: Having Purpose

Poems, The Fullfilment Framework
Striving and failing, repeatedly.
The defeated fall below their imposed par;
partly theirs, partly someone else's.
We often strive without direction, without purpose
on the treadmill of life, running and staying.
People, teams, businesses; we mistake rewards for purpose,
the spoils with the destination.
When we have no destination and no map or compass to speak of
we fail in our pursuits. Our purpose defines our destination
and our reason for going there. It is the means by which we transform
the world for the better. It is how we uplift others
and help them become their best selves.
To help others find fulfilment is to fulfil what it means to be human.

Poem: Unity in a Crisis, Two Sides of Humanity

Poems

I made a mistake, I panicked,
I bought too many, more than I needed,
I raised my voice and was unkind,
I blamed others for our collective situation,
I became divisive and against the ‘other’.

You bought more than you needed,
Because the extra was for your neighbour,
You spoke gentle words full of forgiveness and kindness,
Because that is what is needed,
You took responsibility for those around you, to care for them,
Because this is what leadership looks like,
You spread joy and laughter, inspiration and unity,
Because these are remedies for hurt.

The crisis is a catastrophe, but you were a beacon of hope,
I made it worse, but you forgave me and showed me a better way.

Now I buy for my neighbour, because they need it,
Now I show forgiveness and kindness to others, because we need it,
Now I take responsibility and care for those around me, because it is right,
Now I spread joy and laughter, inspiration and unity, 
Because we are one humanity, we always have been, 
But it took a crisis that shook the world to see it.

Poem: Life’s Covenant

Poems
Infinite is our space and time.
Infinite is our consciousness.
Life blooms and fades, ebbing and flowing
from and back to the great eternity.
The Brahman, the Tao, the Emptiness,
the Universe, the Ubuntu.
Our divisions are all of our own creation;
Red versus Blue,
White versus Black,
Me versus You,
Us versus Them.
We were born of the flourishing planet
that we ride through the cosmos,
built from the elements of our eternal universe.
We exchange breath and energy and food,
our survival is a dance of coexistence,
our thriving comes from our collective
respect, cooperation and love.
We are intertwined and inseparable.
This is the truth under all other truths; we are one.
To create division seems to be a violation
of the very covenant of life itself.
Let us see others as ourselves and rise together
to our greatest happiness, joy and potential.

Poem: I Am Here

Poems
The earth spins on its axis creating this day,
And every other day and night since
before life blossomed here.
The earth hurtles through space around our
shining star, creating years and seasons.
This place, this point in space where
I sit and write these words will never be
visited again by this earth.
This earth, spinning and orbiting,
this galaxy turning, this universe expanding
and I am sitting here writing these words,
these observations.
Here in this moment I write words on
the remnants of a once living tree.
Words that moments ago did not exist
as they do here, together, expressing
something deep within me that can
barely find expression. I am here.

By David Meachem

Poem: Spiritual Warrior

Poems
A tree grows amidst the elements,
it's branches are tormented by the wind,
it's leaves are nourished by the Sun and the rain,
yet they succumb to the power of the seasons,
dying and regrowing. And so it is with our mind.

The tree's trunk stands mighty in the face of the seasons,
year by year. It's branches bend with the wind
and do not break, it's roots reach deep
into the earth; holding, drinking, embracing.
And so it is with our mind.

To be strong is to remain within the uncertainty
and fear of what may be, and to do so with an open heart,
with compassion, with understanding
and with gratitude for every joy and every sorrow.
This is what it means to be a spiritual warrior.