Riddle of Knowledge

I am the keeper of secrets and things
but the meaning of life is quite puzzling.

Within the walls of my libraries, in a book on my shelves,
is a word on a page, scribbled by elves.

The answer to life's puzzling question, why. The Secret of Life!

Unfortunately, there are too many books for one lonely old loon,
and I've never had the time to file them.

It would take a life time to search the volumes of work
but I assure you it is there!

Of course, the cherry trees are in season now
and you could search for the perfect blossom.

I have heard it is difficult to find,
but if it takes a lifetime,
it wouldn't have been wasted.

Somber Note

my heart weeps
tears that flood glacier springs
cold and blue
cracked as the ice upon the lake
holding but broken
less capable of bearing weight

oh spirit, that descends on men in times of trouble
descend on me

teach me the lesson i could never learn
to hold the heart or play the hand
for it is my curse that I should fall in love
to be stripped clean innocent and naked
eating in the garden

a curse
that i should fall
only to climb the mountain again
and again
how beautiful the rocky path
and the calloused feet that walk it

take from me, oh spirit which dwells in men
with the wind to carries mans sails across the sea
this somber note
this sweet and sad symphony
for my heart bears not the oceans squalls
when broken and alone at sea

or teach my heart a new song
with a more cheerful melody
that i may regain my vigor
and cast myself once again
out into the galaxy of fish

perhaps a nonsensical melody
which may never end

Lakota Spirit

- The word Lakota means "considered friends" or "alliance of friends" and denotes the union of seven Native American tribes who believe their home in the Black Hills of South Dakota is sacred. Coyotl, which means "little wolf", is an old Spanish name for Coyote, who is legend to be the trickster and could change his physical appearance.

In the red stained dirt
where the Lakota spider hunts,
calloused feet dance and pound the earth
coal black and rough. I sit atop the rocks
hunched over from thirst, exhausted and praying as I
stair into the eastern wind
where the mountains give birth to the sun.

My brother, the shy little wolf, coyotl in his masks, whose work
never ends, calls out in the early morning
soft and still.
My arms reach to the wind that falls
from the great whispering spirit, who
wanders the earth painting the skys and tall cliffs and
prairies, bursting water from mountain springs
returning with a whisper to the sea.
My voice cries out in song
from distant memory to the one from whom the spirit came
to the one who creates; and I weep. For I am

the unnamed sage, who is content with nothing
but the sound of the whispering spirit and the old red earth.
My eyes in constant wonder and my heart at peace
filled with the sadness in life
I believe, only joy can bring.

Dangers at Sea

When the seas are rough and the waves reach 7 ft, white capping over the bow of the ship as I pull the line of 150ft rope with 75 ft of chain and a 30lb anchor, 40 degree water splashing on my face, soaked from head to toe, I think to my self, "Is this worth the $30 a day and these ungrateful no tipping s.o.b.'s throwing up on the side of the boat I'll have to spend 3 hours washing when we port, tired and cold and wet?" Then I look out at the Aleutian Mountain range glowing with the morning light and I wish I was retired, with a boat of my own so that I could chose not to go out when the waters are rough, only fishing when the the tide is down and the water looks like glass.

Sometimes when you know something just isn't for you, you've got to swallow your pride, pack up and move on. I'm not disappointed though, in my mind, I took a week long vacation in the last frontier, learned how to deck hand a halibut fishing boat, caught two of the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life, ate 'em, and I got to see one of the most beautiful corners of the world. This was a good vacation. I only dread the heat and working another summer in the mid west. Come home.

Thinking Thoughts of Marry Madness

Lately I've been considering the necessity of thought. Is it? Of course, something as natural as breathing is going to be difficult to get rid of, if it someday turns out to be unnecessary. Shocked as you may be after a statement like that consider the word Government. Begins with 'govern' which means to control and ends with 'ment' which is mente or mind. Govern + mente = to control the mind. Thinking, whether on the course to enlightenment or as the loyal subject of the new republic is a clinging to the old world. My instincts and heart tend to keep me out of trouble anyway, although it is aided by some rosy colored spectacles and this old monkey on my shoulder. We have to learn to just Be.
Do words mean anything? Really!? Just lexical symbols to represent ideas. Ideas inside our heads which form pictures of things we see in the world of our experience. Its symbolic alchemy to arrange the letters which mean nothing unto themselves but when placed in specific orders and combined they take on meaning. Words begin to appear. Mastering words produces sentences. Where the meaning begins to take on layers. Words, abstract constructs, Command and commemorate, clarify and congratulate, criticize and consummate, they are the pillars of meaning in our understanding of things. Why have the beautiful ones been abandoned? Why have we chosen to stop thinking for ourselves? I want to see words like philanthropist and cynosure, epiphany, ethereal, soliloquy, potamophilous.
Good night.

A story of Man - A work in Progress

the world was born

and man came and tended the garden
communities formed
centered around their food
the harvest festivals
labor was celebration
because many hands make lite work
and they created culture
in art and philosophy
science and industry

and then man asked about the stars
the darkness he would never know
and with his science and his industry
he built and traveled farther and farther
and learned to fly
the higher he went the more barriers he met
to break through meant to leave the garden
and build a system that could sustain itself
to fuel the system, the garden was cut down
and beneath, the stone was carved out
and burned red hot poisoning the air, rivers and the seas
the system also needed human hands and the minds that controlled them
culture was changed, moved away from the garden
in order to sustain the system

the influence of the darkness on man
moved him away from the light
and into the bitter cold
the system retained its heart, the root of its existence
without it, there could be no life
in the hearts of the people, love brought them together
continuing their existence though they were surrounded by darkness
by the system and its waste
without any light except within their own hearts

over time, some of the people could leave
and they gathered many people to help sustain them and the system
as they hurled themselves into the darkness and the unknown
what remained of them and the system crumbled
from the ruin, the people left behind began again

man tended the garden which sustained him
and communities formed around the food they shared
and the work they shared because many hands make lite work
and light came upon the world again
and the people celebrated
over time they grew comfortable, idle
with so much time to think

then man looked into the darkness of the night sky
and wondered