Burnt orange and ochre --
color de cafe --
pineapple, lime, red pajaritos...
land of mananas, grace in mantillas...
balanced canastas, ojos expresivos.
Sunshine and heat, fiesta y corrida,
salt and tortilla, pride and tequila.
Frijol and machismo and chile con queso.
Adobe, caliche, sweet agua fria...
Mexico, te amo mucho, y su gente amable!

What childishness is it that while there’s a breath of life

in our bodies, we are determined to rush

to see the sun half way around the world?

Or, the tiniest green hummingbird in the world?...

Must we dream our dreams

and have them, too?

Talking of beauty, you enter my mind.

No single soul reveals more pleasure than you.

All imperfection washes away from you.

You remain a symbol of hope, grace and  serenity.

Giving is different than giving up;
     in giving we gain ourselves.

We spread ourselves outward,
     like the plant from its roots.

The plant giving flowers and seeds;
     not giving up roots, not giving up
           its own place in the dark sun.

Giving without giving up,
     a giving illuminated heart.

Boundaries moving in,
     moving out.

Letting love in,
     letting love out.

Rules For My Grandson

1. Never shake a man’s hand sitting down.

2. There are plenty of ways to enter a pool. The stairs ain’t one.

3. The man at the grill is the closest thing we have to a king.

4. In a negotiation, never make the first offer.

5. Act like you’ve been there before. Especially in the end zone.

6. Request the late check-out.

7. When entrusted with a secret, keep it.

8. Hold your heroes to a higher standard.

9. Return a borrowed car with a full tank of gas.

10. Don’t fill up on bread.

11. When shaking hands, grip firmly and look him in the eye.

12. Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be.

13. If you need music on the beach, you’re missing the point.

14. Carry two handkerchiefs. The one in your back pocket is for you. The one in your breast pocket is for her.

15. You marry the girl, you marry her whole family.

16. Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like crazy underneath.

17. Experience the serenity of traveling alone.

18. Never be afraid to ask out the best looking girl in the room.

19. Never turn down a breath mint.

20. In a game of HORSE, sometimes a simple free throw will get ’em.

21. A sport coat is worth 1000 words.

22. Try writing your own eulogy. Never stop revising.

23. Thank a veteran. And then make it up to him.

24. If you want to know what makes you unique, sit for a caricature.

25. Eat lunch with the new kid.

26. After writing an angry email, read it carefully. Then delete it.

27. Ask your mom to play. She won’t let you win.

28. See it on the big screen.

29. Give credit. Take the blame.

30. Write down your dreams.

I stood by truth:
     to establish light across the land.

I wanted to be common:
     so when the struggle came I would not be found missing.

But here I am with the solitude I lost:
     but because of this injustice I do not rest.

The sea continues as I remain silent.

There is no space wider
     than that of grief.

There is no universe 
     like this which bleeds.

To rise to the sky you need...

two wings,
     a violin,
          and so many things,
               incalculable things, things without names,
                    a license for a large slow moving eye,
                         the inscription on the almond tree,
                              the tides of the grass in the morning.


  

Some thoughts on my return from Asia...

Now they can leave me in peace,
     and grow use to my absence.

I m going to close my eyes.

I only want five things,
     five chosen roots.

One is endless love.

Two is to see the autumn.
I do not exist without leaves
     flying and falling to earth.

The third is the solemn winter,
     the rain I loved, the caress
          of fire in the rough cold.

My fourth is the summer,
     plump and ripe as tomatoes hanging on the vine.

And, fifth, your eyes.
I will not sleep without your eyes.
I will not exist but in your gaze.
Spring adjusts for you to follow me.

That is all I want.
Next to nothing, close to everything.

Because I ask for silence,
     don't think I am going to die.

The opposite is true,
     it happens I am going to live.

It's a question of having lived so much
     that I want to live that much more.