Mark Nepo: "Behind the Thunder"

I keep looking for one more teacher,
only to find that fish learn from water
and birds learn from sky.

If you want to learn about the sea,
it helps to be at sea.
If you want to learn about compassion,
it helps to be in love.
If you want to learn about healing,
it helps to know of suffering.

The strong live in the storm
without worshipping the storm.



"Behind the Thunder" by Mark Nepo, from Reduced to Joy. © Viva Editions, 2013.

Art credit: "Man Vs. Storm," photograph taken August 28, 2011, by Temo Nakashidze.

Mark Nepo: "The Appointment"

What if, on the first sunny day,
on your way to work, a colorful bird
sweeps in front of you down a
street you’ve never heard of.

You might pause and smile,
a sweet beginning to your day.

Or you might step into that street
and realize there are many ways to work.

You might sense the bird knows some-
thing you don’t and wander after.

You might hesitate when the bird
turns down an alley. For now
there is a tension: Is what the
bird knows worth being late?

You might go another block or two,
thinking you can have it both ways.
But soon you arrive at the edge
of all your plans.

The bird circles back for you
and you must decide which
appointment you were
born to keep.

"The Appointment" by Mark Nepo. Published online at poet's website.

Photography credit: "Soar Above" by Rob Cartwright, 2010 (originally black and white).

 

Mark Nepo: "Where Is God?"

It’s as if what is unbreakable—
the very pulse of life—waits for
everything else to be torn away,
and then in the bareness that
only silence and suffering and
great love can expose, it dares
to speak through us and to us.

It seems to say, if you want to last,
hold on to nothing. If you want
to know love, let in everything.
If you want to feel the presence
of everything, stop counting the
things that break along the way.

"Where Is God?" by Mark Nepo. No bibliographic information available.

Photographic credit: Unknown (originally black and white).