Strange

Strange

Imagine for a minute

How strangely

Arranged the world

We live in might be---

Well, you can be certain

That no matter what

You happen to imagine,

It's arranged stranger than that

Everything that lives has a soul---

Tiny bits of the divine

Distributed in equal measure

Among many trillions of living beings

When comes the day

You happen into your own soul

You'll likely think you've found God

We all live in a giant sea of life

On a tiny blue dot up in the sky

Life here extends fifty thousand feet

Up into the air

And about eight thousand feet

Down into the ground

Look around my friend, you live

About eight thousand feet

Up from the bottom

In a grand ocean of souls

And most of us live our entire lives

Without ever knowing it

Pretty much everything

In the Universe is connected

To everything else

In a vast, vast, intricately woven

Sea of connections

And those goofy little ditties

Of creativity that we call intelligence

Are just the ability

Of our minds

To notice and utilize

The tiny, tiny fraction

Of all those connections

That we are adapted and able

To find relevant

And the links of causation

We've built our sciences

And logic around?

Those are just special cases

Of inference that we're adapted

To perceive and use

Life is art in motion

An artist is one who is able

To find tiny pieces of what's enchanted

And put them to paper,

Canvas or string

Though often it remains hidden

By the illusion of our waking dreams

In our Universe, love, humor,

Grace and beauty prevail

And deep in our souls

We each already know it

Dewey Dirks

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Dances

Dances

There have been times in my life

When I've felt unspeakable pain and fear

And times when I've seen

Those whom I love

Suffer mind breaking pain as well

While I watched, unable to help

Of the two, I can tell you

The second is far, far worse

I've known love with another

That runs so deep in our souls

It will never know death

I've also seen and felt

To the very core of my existence

The simple joy

That quietly lives in all things

Like a pond of pure, clear water

And I've listened to something

Of the great lilting melody

To which all life moves

Joseph Campbell once said

"Find a place inside where there's joy,

And the joy will burn out the pain"

Which, I think, are very wise words

That couldn't be more true

When I was a young man

Hanging out with my dad,

When he was talking

Every once in awhile

He would become so emotional

That he'd almost burst into tears

At the time, I didn't know

There was no shame in it

And I was embarrassed by his openness

Now, many years have gone by

I've crossed many deep canyons,

Danced grand dances

With those whom I love very much

And I've climbed many mountain tops,

And, I too, find myself with tears

In my eyes welling sometimes when I talk

And now I know what dad

Was feeling way back then;

His tears were memories

Of the dances he'd danced

Dropping by to visit him

Dewey Dirks

Saving Yourself

Saving Yourself

There is only one person

who can save you

and that is yourself.

The only things you need

to save yourself from

are your own

fear and prejudice.

You overcome your

fears and prejudice

by learning to

care for yourself

as Mother Earth

cares for you.

When you learn

to have compassion

for your own shortcomings,

you also learn to have

compassion for the shortcomings

in everyone else

and all the world as well.

As your fears and prejudice

begin to subside

you'll become ever more aware

of many things that

you've been doing right all this time

and many things

that life has been doing for years

to help you along.

A lack of compassion for others

is a sure indication

of a lack of compassion

for yourself.

If you want to do your part

to save the world

you need only to set yourself right

after that everything

will fall into place.

Lighting the bright flames

of love and compassion in yourself

goes far in lighting

the flames of compassion

in all whom

you come into contact with.

In the fullness of time, you'll find

the world doesn't need saving

so much as it needs

to be loved.

Likewise, you'll come to find

that you don't need saving either.

What you need is to love

and to be loved.

Dewey Dirks

Justice

Justice

I think the justice of the Universe

Is found in that in the end,

Everything is made useful

No loss so tragic

That from it cannot spring hope

No sorrow furrowed so deep

That from it cannot grow gentleness

No scar so ugly

That from it a light does not shine

No human with imperfections so uneven

That from them

Cannot birth his humanity

Dewey Dirks

Bravest Woman

Bravest Woman

I am a working woman

with children almost grown.

I'm nearly fifty.

I hope I still have a pretty face.

My husband died almost three years ago.

One cold winter day

a old man shot him dead

through our kitchen window.

He was the father of a thirty year old woman

and he thought my husband

was having an affair with his daughter

down at the bar where he used to go.

Life isn't fair sometimes.

Oh God I loved my husband so much.

We were married nearly twenty years.

Lord God he used to like to talk

to people down at the bar.

He used to like to talk

to that woman down there.

He'd go down there and sit, I know.

Lord God he used to like to talk.

I stumble through each day.

I cry through through every night.

Sometimes I think I'm a broken woman.

Sometimes I think I'm broken.

I don't know how I'll go on.

But there's bills and bills

I've got to pay.

A home that needs cleaning

and dishes to wash.

Children who need lots of love.

Children who need advice.

And a house with a hole in the window

that needs to be sold.

How can I go on without my husband?

I don't know if I can carry the weight alone.

Lord God, I'm so alone.

I miss his voice.

He used to like to talk.

Oh God he used to like to talk.

He visits me in my dreams at night

He cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.

He used to tell me,

“Jessie, you're the bravest woman I've ever known.”

Now I hear him in the night softly say,

“Don't miss me, please don't miss me.

I'm here with you now. Don't miss me.

Jessie you're the bravest woman

I've ever known.”

I get so mad at him.

Lord God, he used to like to talk.

Liked to talk to the pretty young women.

Liked to talk to everyone.

Now he visits me in my dreams at night

He cuddles me tightly. He kisses me softly.

He says, “Jessie don't miss me.

You're the bravest woman I've ever known.

If you fall down, I'll help you up again.

I'll help you up.”

Lord God I miss my husband

He used to say,

“Jessie, you're the bravest woman

I've ever known.”

Last night I dreamed of a great river

with a boat to carry me across.

On the river bank my husband was standing

I walked up to him and he kissed me

He said, “Jessie life is kinder than you think

Every night in dreams you don't remember

You travel to another land.

There you and I are young again

And together we sit and talk and laugh

drinking iced tea

beside a great cypress tree.

When your days here are done

to that distant shore you'll travel

and if you still want me

I promise I'll meet you once again

beside that tree.

Jessie, oh Jessie

You are the bravest woman I've ever known.

And the love we feel for each other

is that cypress tree we meet under each night

with roots so strong it will never know death.“

Dewey Dirks

Find

Find

Why spend your time

Trying to figure out

Something so grand as God

When you're not even sure

What life it is that flows

In your own veins.

You'll likely spend many lifetimes

Just discovering yourself

If you want to find yourself

Look to Nature

Because in it are pieces of you

If you want to find Nature

Look inside because there are

Pieces of it in you

Remember, any inquiry

Is a good one

So long as your quest is sincere

Dewey Dirks

Dreams

Dreams

If you have a dream in life

If you strive for success in what you do

Sometimes the biggest obstacle

to achieving what you want to is you

Sometimes you fear that you're not good enough

to ever be successful

Sometimes you fear success

will tear you away from your loved ones

Sometimes you fear you're too messed up

to be ever be successful

Sometimes you fear if you find success

everyone will be out to get you

Remember success is not about

writing a perfect book

painting a perfect painting

singing a perfect song

or making a lot of money

What success is really about

is taking your life by the hand

and walking into a bright new day

Where what you believe in

is you

Dewey Dirks

HAppy Thanksgiving

Airs

Airs

I think everyone has an air about them

A feeling that they give away to others

Like ripples expanding out from a pebble

Dropped into a pond

My wife felt like the strings on a guitar

Tightly strung and full of energy

Able to make the most beautiful

Music for your soul

She had great power all scrunched up

In her tiny frame,

Like the massive energy of a brilliant, bright sun

All packed into tiny hydrogen atoms

You are like a summer afternoon for two

Out on a quiet beach---

Hills with yellow flowers

And green grass off to the north

Leading down to a white blanket of sand

As the ocean blue rolls in with the great rhythm of life

When you laugh and smile it's like a school of dolphins

Coming up near the shore to jump and play in the water

Blowing bubble-rings for each other.

You have great power too---

I don't know from where it comes

But it is like a soft breeze out there on the beach

Able to sway time itself with a secret, whispering song

Dewey Dirks

Give it a Whirl

Give it a Whirl

Now, I don't know

If I can change the world

But I'll tell you this---

I'm gonna give it a whirl

My friends, forget about

Whether you might or might not

Make a difference

Just do what's right,

Do the best you can,

Be yourself,

Be the best one of you that you can

And the rest will take care of itself

On your long journeys,

If you happen to help

Just one other,

That is enough

Am I gonna change the world?

I don't know,

But I'm giving it a whirl

Dewey Dirks

Turning Your Way

Turning Your Way

If you stop for a while

All the striving and fixing

And scamming

And trying so hard

To get life to turn your way

And just look and listen

And touch what is around you

With your heart and soul

You will find

Life turning your way

And if you look into the past

Touching what is there

With your heart and soul

You will find

Life has long been

Turning your way

Dewey Dirks

Thank Life

Thank Life

This life we each breathe...

So much to see

feel and experience

in everyday life

that can be called

nothing besides miraculous

very small, large and in between

A wise man once said

there are only two ways

to look at life---

as though nothing

is a miracle

or as though

everything is a miracle

I've tried both,

and have to say

I seem to notice more of life

when I look for miracles

They say

if you are living your life

as you should,

you'll be swimming

in a sea of coincidence

From where do they all come?

Some say God puts them there

Some say we ourselves

put them there

simply by noticing....

So, I stand on brown earth

and green grass,

look up at stars each night

or the bright sun

and white clouds

of a winters day

and thank life....

that is my way

Dewey Dirks

Natural

Natural

Not knowing

what the future

might bring,

the cultures of Man

move naturally together

towards an unknown tomorrow

in an unspoken dance.

Our sounds are the same

as the sound of rain

in stormy darkness

pattering a natural song

all the night long.

Our market economies

and the governments

that support them

one day will outlive

their usefulness

---perhaps sooner than you think,

and fall by the wayside

going the way of

the feudal societies

that once ruled men.

Soon enough we all will stride

to the tune of a new day.

Rest easy friend,

our halting dances,

follow the Earth music

as all others do

on our blue and white sky marble

and the paths that

we men tumble and tussle along

trace the grand song of life

just as flocks of swallows

turn and twist in unison

on their long path south

flying to melodies

that have never been

set to paper.

Dewey Dirks

Something New

Something New

My late wife and I lived together

For over twenty years

It was a charmed romance

In many ways

When you know someone that long,

You've heard pretty much

Everything they have to say

About a dozen times over

But whenever Laino and I talked

There was an endless summer in her voice

And what she had to say

Just never got old to my ears

My time with her helped me learn

That every single day

Really is something that is fresh

And although you see and hear

The same sort of things over and over again

If your love for them is soul deep

Each passing day forever remains

Something new

Dewey Dirks

Benefit of a Doubt

Benefit of a Doubt

Don't despair others their beliefs.

Everyone you ever meet

knows a thing or two

that is as wise

as the Earth Mother is old

just as everyone you ever meet

believes a few things

that are as screwy as a bent corkscrew.

To greet every day loaded for bear,

look for pieces of yourself in others

and pieces of them in yourself.

Meet all in life with the benefit of a doubt

and as much kindness as you can muster.

Dewey Dirks

Mystic

Mystic

Normally we all believe

it is us who experience life,

and we each build

well lived lives

by accumulating scores

of memorable moments.

So, when you experience life

in some special way, you say,

“For me, it's been

a memorable moment.”

But every once in great awhile,

you have an experience

where it seems that Nature herself

takes time out of her busy, busy day

to pay attention just to you.

When life experiences you in this way

it becomes something mystical.

When comes the day you realize

Nature is always

experiencing you in this way

just as you are experiencing her.

When comes the day

you find that both you and the world

are forever as young lovers,

meeting in a vast, vast sea

of happenstance and coincidence,

falling in love just now,

discovering each other,

over and over again, every day,

then you're a mystic.

Dewey Dirks

Good Company

Good Company

The universe we living in

Is not so much a thing

As it is a process---

An action in continuous motion

It is also not so much a thing

As it is a vast colony

Made of many trillions

Of symbiont creatures and things

And you are a reflection

Of that universe---

Not a thing,

But process in motion,

A symbiont colony made

Of a great many other things

When I first learned this

I thought, 'So what?

What difference does that make?'

But when I began to behave

Like I understood

That I was connected

To everything around me

And everything was connected to me

Things changed

I realized that I welcomed

The world and everything in it

And I began to see it welcomed me

Where before I was all alone

Now I am forever more

With good company

Dewey Dirks

A Lullaby in Your Name

A Lullaby in Your Name

Living in the busy kaleidoscope

Of moments and people

Moving all around you,

Drink of the wonders

Of ten-thousand things

Living in the gentle embrace

Of solitude,

All alone in the crowd,

Bathe in the blue water river

That flows quietly

Through all things

Just beyond the ends of time

Look! Listen!

Something beautiful there,

From beyond what any man knows,

Sings softly a lullaby

In your name

Dewey Dirks

Discover

Discover

The more aware
and at peace
a person is
with his own
inner nature,
the more he
is aware
and at peace
with the Universal Nature
because his inner nature
is itself a piece
of the natural world.
Look outward
and you discover
yourself.
Look inward
and you discover
the world.

Dewey Dirks

Computer Talk

Hi folks. Hope your day is going well :) Just a note to let you know I'll be writing articles about computer hardware over at a website called “Bestcovery.com” Bestcovery is a website that recommends the best buys for all sorts of cars, healthcare products, appliances and things like computers and cameras. Be sure to drop by there and take a look around. Here is a link to my first article for them: It's about the best full size computer cases for the money. Click on the link to go to the site: https://www.bestcovery.com/best-computer-case#35617