The Ship of Friends...Forever!

The Ship of Friends is where we all meet at every level....
.....sooner or later....and in special times....

It is a mystical ship that sails the high seas of life...
It is a metaphor for a safe place where people can meet and be close together...
It is something that may be in our futures, both in this life and beyond...
It is a friendly place....it is a place in our minds, hearts and souls...
Heart to heart friends meet here...
Mind to mind...meet here
...Soul to soul meet here...

The ship is always departing, always arriving...
....it is safe in any storm....
....it sails with speed on open seas...
....and into the night with great light...
......it knows no specific form....

There is no fear on the ship....
....she holds all souls safely....

Lives touch on the ship.....
....like nowhere on land....
.....only on the life of seas....
......and the sea of life....extends her hand....

Her spirit is friendship, welcome....
....warm tea to newly on board...
......warm touches to those who want to move forward...

She waits for us all...
...we will be there....
....the fallen and the strong....
......yet life is there in our times...
........everyone is there in no harm....

Our souls reach out....
....her Captain hears the call..
......The Ship of Friends....
.........welcomes each and everyone of our souls...
.....as we stand for our life and the life for all....

It has friends for fun times...
...friends who seek their soul...
.....friends who want to give....
.......and friends who take all....

It has the most loving face....
....waiting for our kiss...
......just as we step on board....
.......we cannot miss....

The Ship of Friends is our life....
....we cannot miss her call....
......it's when we see her....
........that matters all...

The Ship of Friends....Human Bonding in the 21st Century

In earlier writing, I have described the Ship of Friends.

I now realize my next book is about just that....

...human bonding and connecting in our time...it is a rather precious thing....

....some of my writing since the recent book has been more to this point than earlier...

......everyone seems interested in relationships and the anatomy of love....and connecting points...

.......so let sail....

The Ship of Friends....

....we shall all meet there anyway....we might as well, join and get ready to sail....

.....for those friends already on the ship, ahoy....mates....!
......for new friends, get ready for the journey of your life....you are already underway....

Art is the Gift...for eons, for seconds....

When the artist finally completes the painting, the poem, the story, the framing of the photo...
...the song....the drama....the acting....it's over...

But only for that moment!

Its life goes on....people see it...read it...dream it...see themselves in it...
...there is life there, from the artist's soul to medium, to your eyes, to your soul....

It can live years, decades, centuries....forever....its light shines...
...on out into the far distant places....

Art is also the last dance of the evening....
...the last flight of the Captain...
...the one that had  the perfect landing....

It may be the act of love....the poem spoken in broken tongue from the unbroken heart...
...from the unbroken breath of the broken heart....
It may be the touch of the hand at the golden moment...
...when time is running out....when the touch is not ordinary touch....
....when it is maybe the last touch....ever....it becomes the touch from the soul....
....it may be the last art from that heart....

Early or late, small or large....the touch is the art....
....it is the gift of life...it can be the last gift of love....
....it is never lost....it is the gift from something greater than us...to us, through us...
....other things are lost...never art...it is our legacy...it is what we inherit, and what our children will inherit...
....it is our civilization...the best we know to give....
....voice, words, sounds, paint, lines, color...
....never random...
...the creative designs from beyond our hands and soul back from a deeper place out now into the
...universe of our world and our children....may it last long enough to inspire them, speak to their souls too...
...and ask of them the same....what can we do to give back the sunrise, the mountains, the flowers...
...it will be 'art' their answer, as it is ours, our ancestors and all of our fellow humanity to come....
....it is the only truly human language we speak....it is, after all, our gift...

How Do We Know When We Have Just Said 'Hello'...?

Surprise...
Someone just woke us up...

New....
Awake...
Like morning...in the middle of the afternoon...

Where did you come from?
Why are you here?

From the city
Far or near?

More to come...
Don't know where from...

But, it is unmistakeablely clear....
I can see and hear...

You now have no fear...
"hello'....from right in here....

Cold hands....
Warm them here...
Have no fear....

I touch your hand...
It's very clear....

We are here...

We just said, I think, 'Hello'...
Cold city, warm tea....
Come inside...
I'll sit with you...
...if you sit with me....

...'excuse me, if I may say..."
..."Hello"

We knew each other long ago....

How Do You Know When You Have Said 'Goodbye'...?

Mostly, it just happens....
Most of the time you don't know...at the time....
Ask yourself, when you have lost someone you miss, maybe to life, to love, to death....
And you never see them again....

The last time you see them, almost never, we know at that moment....
It hits just after, or maybe later....
We never had the chance to say 'goodbye'...

We would not have wanted to, anyway....
Not then....anyway, no way....

Goodbye is not something we humans like to celebrate....
Beginnings are better than endings....

Sometimes, we know it when it is 'Goodbye'...
It is up to us to say it first....

Both ways have happened to me....
There are none of them that I consider my best moments...

For today, maybe not forever, I choose...
"Hello' to a new friend is my choice of moments...
...always over 'Goodbye' to an old one....

In all cases, we do not run the show....
We do our best, as we know, as we love, each day, in every way....
Mistakes we may make...
When we are true to our heart and our best...and our friend...
There is never a 'Goodbye"....at stake...

Fifteen minutes with a true friend is good enough forever...

Trajectory

Careers....relationships
....up or down......
.....percolating coffee...
......between black and brown....
........wakes us up....when we see....
.........someone going up....up.....up
...........ever higher...than what should be....

....Some slant downward....
.....leaving us wondering why...
......careers in stall, someone, please just try....
.......loves broken, souls not in sync...
.........stretches our hearts, limits where we think...

.....We live for the movement upward and higher....
......we sail and straits are not dire....
.......the ones we will follow....
.........the paths seem drier...

....The patterns of life and love all the way through
......shape who we are....
.......and define the ones who....
.........will be with us....for all that is true....

How Do You Know When You Have Been Touched?

This Thanksgiving, some one gave me a beautiful cultural gift and a personally made Thanksgiving card. It said  'Happy Thanksgiving, Dr. Mike, to you and your loved ones...'

My loved ones include her, and my family, and the many students and friends I share mutual feelings with, but it is a big circle of loved ones.....not defined by traditional ways of defining family or 'buddies'....rather, by who chooses to express love to me and who I care enough about to love, and to let them know it....

See, life is so short....we need to say it out...when we care about someone,when we worry, when we appreciate the smallest things about them....if we do not release it, it will just be like a gift we give ourselves, when it was really meant for the other one....

So, I said....this also is you!  I hope she understands....my appreciation of how much she cares and how she does things....so very well and with such appreciation...

Thanksgiving 2010.  It has real thanks in it for me and real meaning.  I was lucky and received some things that no one can understand how much they mean to me....

I hope I did something of the same for some of the ones I love......this precious day of the year.....

This year, I was touched.  Thanksgiving happened for me....