refuge
note to self
you know where
your refuge is
and where it is not—
it is not in success
nor in being loved
it is not in the size of
your savings nor a
mountain hideaway
you won’t find it
outside of yourself—
get quiet, drop inward
consider what is
primary, first, and
eternally present—
that is your harbor
give it up
note to self
give it up—the
hankering that
claws your gut and
tugs your heart
I was taught
how life unfolds
is not enough—
was pushed to strive
for more—were you?
most of us were
trained to crave—
fancy new boots
a handsome suitor
or swanky school
city life or exotic locale
something! more!
give it up—not the
imagined gains, only
your hungry ghosts
—instead, notice the
steal of light, how it
shivers through trees
the miracle that water
rains from above, your
kindhearted friends
—all freely given
work for change
of course—encourage
discourse and peace
invite healing everywhere
yet welcome how it is
whatever it is because
here it is
2022 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—they may never turn into anything more or they might flower.
Last night in the hot tub, the phrase “prime questions” came to me. These questions do not refer to the manifest world of objects, thoughts, feelings, or perceptions–all that comes and goes. The questions ask us–metaphorically–to turn around and notice what is true.
Prime questions cannot be answered.
They can be known.
Here’s a twinned pair of prime questions:
Physical objects arise in space; in what does space arise?
Events arise in time; in what does time arise?
—Rupert Spira
If we are willing to
STOP
and truly consider what the questions point to, our lives will be altered irrevocably.
image: Rupert Spira
© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2017
My husband snores lightly, and it seems to start about a half hour after I go to bed. It’s unexpected, and uneven. I can’t fall asleep.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked my audiologist to make me a pair of molded ear plugs. He stuck a small cotton wad attached to a thread into each ear, then injected soft material that hardens in five minutes–red for the right ear, blue for the left. In fifteen minutes, I left his office delighted, earplugs in hand.
I headed to bed that night looking forward to trying them out, sure they would make a huge difference.
Here’s what I learned: even fitted to my specific ears, plugs block very little, because ears hear. That’s what they do; that is their nature, whether we are awake or asleep.
In the same way, consciousness is always awake. That’s its nature. Our bodies may be in deep sleep, but awareness–which is unlocated–remains ever-present, eternal and infinite.
© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2016
the heart of the matter 