Saturday 29 July 2017

Warriors of Peace


Would you 
Only hold as true
That gallantry 
Is only to be found
Upon desolate
Battle fields 
Where echoed 
Is the gnashing of steel
Flesh rendered
Bones splintered
Whereby throughout history
The best of innovative minds
Conspire to present
A more efficient killing machine
Until military 
Commander-in-chiefs
Entertain their allied counterpart
Sharing dessert 
While they rain missiles 
On the soon to become
Collateral damage
or 
Within arenas 
Where war has been declared
 Where sinew & tissue
Do battle
For public amusement
Plunder and profit
Victim and perpetrator
Oppressor and the enslaved
Neither side
Imagine themselves
To be the villain
Their's is a mighty
And just cause
How long
Before the monster hunter
Becomes the monster?

What of the personal Armageddon?
The inner Jihad...
Isn't each
In need of an Armistice
Within themselves
If intent on avoiding 
Waging this inner battle
How many then
Will become the fallout 
Of those
Continuing to wage 
The wars of self-hatred
But rather than lance
This inner boil
They choose instead
To project it's venom 
On all that cross their path

A new world warrior
Is being born
And called into action
He or she
Will not shun
This battle within
The warrior of old
Is to become
Obsolete 
For their's
Is 
A battle without end
To a hammer
Everything looks 
Like an nail
A consciousness upgrade
Must then 
Proceed 
Lasting peace
The courage
Fortitude and integrity
Love and compassion
And hearts
Of the next generation warrior
Will be duly tested
The old guard
Will not release it's grip
Without it's hallmark
Tactics of provocateur
And manipulation
The "war to end all wars"
Will be the war
That will not take place
Obvious in it's articulation
More challenging in it's execution
The peaceful warriors
From throughout history
Have left ample
Strategies
For the waging
Of 
Peace
Their spirits
Will lead the charge
Embodied
In all those
That dare to march
Gallantly 
Wielding the love 
In their hearts
Fettered neither by
The need 
To attack or defend



R. O'Neill (July 29, 2017)

I Don't Know You....


I don't know you
Yet the gravity
Of your suffering
Wrings 
From every fibre of my heart
Torrents of 
Empathy and compassion
You stand on the brink
At the junction 
Of endless yesterdays
and despair
Courting the hopelessness
Of today
And oblivious to tomorrow
The terror
Of another existential
Apply, rinse, repeat
Draws you ever closer
To a violent cessation
Of an earthbound incarnation

I don't know you
But your suffering
Torments me
Wrenching me from sleep
So that I might
Go another round
Wrestling
Angels and Demons  
Whom 
Would have me believe
Your plight
Has 
Everything and/or Nothing 
To do with me

For the Love of God
But then 
Have you renounced 
God entirely?
If so
What would I presume
To bring 
To lay upon 
The altar of your suffering
I am a weave 
Of the same 
Failures, foibles, and fears
As you...

I don't know you
But I already
Grieve the loss
Of who you are
And who you might have become
The world so desperately
Needs your tender heart 
And your beautiful sensitivity
I pray that you continue
To share that with humanity
Should you choose
Instead to dash your gifts
Upon the rocks
I will rise with the sun 
Loving with all my heart
Life
Yours & mine
The news
Of your choice 
Will deeply sadden me
Which I then 
Will carry
As I consider
For a time
The tortuous inquiry
Why?
Until the love 
For both you and me
Transforms
The suffering 
of
Why - you left
To 
The hope and inspiration
Of 
Why - will I stay

I don't know you
But there is so much
Love for you 
And so much love 
That is you
If you won't 
Allow for that
My life
And the world
Will be lessened 
By your loss
But with all my 
Heart
I will love you 
And let you go

R. O'Neill (July 29, 2017)



Friday 28 July 2017

Light Conversation


I am not afraid of the dark
I have faced my own
So I am fully prepared
To witness yours

I welcome 
The true face
Of your soul
Come as it may

I insist you 
Express your true feelings
You need not 
 Caretake mine

I am responsible
For my feelings
I would ask 
The same of you

I would willingly
Weather your full frontal presentation 
Rather than remain
In the toxic ooze of repressed anger

I would not ask
That you temper your fury
Nor to smile 
If that is not your genuine response

I love myself enough
That I'm clear
I am no whipping post
I know who I am

Your projections 
Will be lovingly
Handed back to you
For your further consideration

I have empathy
For what created
 Massaged social personas
I invite removal of the mask

I have no investment
In how you are defined
I will deeply listen
While you tell me

I am not the light
I am it's vehicle
I can hold space for your darkness
Until your love expands to fill it

R. O'Neill (July 27, 2017)





Wednesday 26 July 2017

A Dynamic Trio


If you were granted three wishes
What would you choose?

If you were told
The only way 
Those wishes
Will be realized
Is to trade your wishbone
For a back bone
Would you make 
The change?
"There is nothing 
More certain and unchanging
Than uncertainty and change..."
Wishing and envisioning,
While an alluring,
Distraction.
And a useful and effective beginning.
To stay there,
Would be, 
To move in,
To the castle in sky.
So then. 
To entertain further,
Conversion from fantasy,  
To fruition.
The newly implanted
Backbone,
May become 
Of paramount importance.
As one now exercises
The choice,
To 
Take a Chance.
No choice,
To bring about change,
Can be undertaken,
Without taking, 
A chance.
There's also 
A chance.
That the choice
You make.
Will not 
Yield the change
You expected.
It's possible,  
If you choose
No change.
It will occur
Regardless.
Leaving it necessary,
To choose, 
In some manner,
A response, 
To the change.
Though nothing
In the way 
Of a guarantee exists.
It might be considered,
That it is best,
To master the relationship, 
Between these three.
Preferable to have,
The magic working,
With you. 
Than to attempt,
To resist. 
And thereby
Realizing. 
The consequences,
Of their  forces,
As an adversary.

R. O'Neill (July 26, 2017)




Tuesday 25 July 2017

Lord Let Me Dance...


There will be a witness 
To the dance?
See then, 
Nothing can be allowed,
To
Limit the dance...
Prayer 
For freedom.
Answered
In the invitation, 
To Dance.
Liberation
May be dance's
Greatest gift.
A rhythmic slow
Brings the body,
Into an awakened state.
Sinews warm.
Pulse quickens.
What is it, 
This body, 
Can do?
What does it 
Want to do?
Am I willing 
to let it lead?
A dialogue
Is enacted.
A sacred intimacy
Is initiated.
Prolonged estrangement, 
Melts away.
Soaring now,
To unexplored heights.
Intuitive choreography,
Overrides a dominant mind,
Now stilled.
Rendering premeditated movement,
Unnecessary.
Fear of falling,
Is vanquished.
Transcend by, 
Ecstatic union. 
Time is lost.
A story is told.
While another 
Is released.
A stolen breath,
Is exchanged,
For a hardwood portal,
To 
The unknown galaxies.
While you watched
Did you know
What it was
You were seeing?

R. O'Neill (July 25, 2017)








Freedom's Appeal


Great Spirit. 
Relieve me, 
From self-imposed,
Incarceration.
Shine.
The light 
Of 
Your Divine Love.
That. 
The ties 
That bind me.
Can be dissolved.
Illuminate 
For me.
All the ways,
I've held myself,
In bondage.
I ask to see
And willingly release, 
To you,
The limiting erroneous
Beliefs. 
That conspire, 
To hold my soul,
In exile.
I offer myself,
And call in,
The path. 
That leads, 
To the realization,
Of my preordained,
Divine potential.
Where my faith
Falters,
May I be 
Bolstered,
 By your grace.
May your Love complete,
Be mine to wield,
Where ever I'm called.
To be your,
Humble servant.
To align,
With your Love.
Is to ensure,
Each day.
I am quenched.
By the sweetest,
Of all nectar.
And the yearning, 
Of all forms,
Is satiated.

Amen.

R. O'Neill (June 25, 2017) 
*No writer's were  harmed while filming  
*Photographic Artistry: Ursula Mary Dempsey




Homecoming


Have you ever considered
An expansion of
"Home is where the heart is.."
Could be: 
Your heart 
&
Your home
Are inextricably
Connected...
That pain
Experienced
In the "heart"
Of 
Your home
Is the pain
Of 
Your home
Being experienced
In your heart
That neglect
And abandonment
Of your home
Which provides
You 
The love
Care and nurturing
Required 
As a foundation 
First to survive
And then to thrive
Is echoed
Within yourself
As incessant
Heart ache
Would you then
Continue to forsake
The privilege 
Bestowed 
Through the gift 
Of your residence
Will you consider
Giving all of your heart
To be home?
And consider 
Your home
Has you
Held all of you
in 
Her heart.....

R. O'Neill (July 25,2017)






Sunday 23 July 2017

Call for Backup..


Never mind
How many can 
Be stacked on a pin...
How many occupy
Your every breath?
How many could reside 
Within the chambers 
Of your heart?
Waiting only 
For your Invitation
To remind you 
Of a love so complete
You might for the moment
 Wonder
How you could have
Doubted 
This Love 
Is upon
Your each and every breath
Just waiting 
To be summoned into 
Action
By your request
And allowing
I won't blow smoke
And suggest
This personal odyssey
Called being human
Is all syrup on snow cones
Kittens with mittens
Though they do also occur
While one plummets 
Into some of the darker
Avenues of their psyche
If one must venture 
Within the realm
Of their own shadow
Wouldn't the light
Cast by a league
Of Angels
Perhaps 
Save a few
Stubbed toes? 

R. O'Neill  (July 23, 2017)


Saturday 22 July 2017

Heart of One


When one develops 
The capacity for 
Compassion
For and through
Their own 
Heart
The suffering 
Of 
Another
Can no longer
Be seen 
As tolerable

What could one
Continue 
To learn?
From 
The belief
That those entrenched
In life on the street
SHOULD 
Just "get a job"
And, by the way,
Stop using drugs
Or, they "deserve" 
Their fate. 

R. O'Neill (July 22, 2017)


Friday 21 July 2017

Seat of Stillness


Far beyond distraction's
Reach
Evan that of
The most staggering beauty
Which though breath-abating
In it's own right
Still denies 
The sweet embrace
And the kiss of origin
Found in the quietude 
Of the soul's
Natural habitat
One need be willing
To renounce
Attachment to 
The day's drama & chaos
More important still
That of his or her own
Deep with the sub-strata
Caves and grottos'
Available
Invisible to eyes
Filled with the turbulence
Of a world
Lost in the conscious cacophony 
Of it's unconscious terror
Once 
Safely nestled therein
One can avail themselves
To the ambrosial nectar
Of divine intimacy
Caressed 
By the hand
Of Creation
Your each respiration
And heart beat
Drawn from 
The very breath 
And Pulse
Of
Love

Rob  O'Neill (July 21, 2017)




Thursday 20 July 2017

Heart's Desire


Holy Mother
I call upon you
Please hear my prayer
I offer to you
All of my heart
I ask that your hand 
Oversee the tilling
Please direct your
Unequalled compassion
Upon those places 
Allowed to become, ensnared in thorns
May it once again
Become a fertile ground
To receive 
And transmit
 Unconditional Divine Love
Breath once again 
Life 
To barren soil
Massage arid wasteland
Until again malleable
To become love's vessel
I am 
 Blossoming potential
Beseeching your 
Loving catalyst
To bolster
My intention
To 
Serve Creation

If it be Thy Will

Let it be Done


R. O'Neill (July 20, 2017)












Wednesday 19 July 2017

Buried Treasure


Once my mind 
Was duly occupied
I assigned it a pin
And a few dozen 
Legion of angels 
Issuing the challenge 
Go ahead 
Stack away!!

What can now be expected
Of the meditation/mystery tour
As I sink fully and completely
Into the cushion beneath me
Hey I am fully supported
And how deliciously 
Sensual and intimate
Why hello there
"Come here often"
Of course you do
Heart of my heart 
What a delight
To meet this way

A pathway you say?
Okay .. let's go
Won't be needing these shoes 
Wow the cool moist
Mossy leaf strewn
Path 
Is such a joy 
Each step
Draws me more deeply 
Into the earth
While the tree-drenched
Air envelops me
Head to toe
Enticed deeper into the forest
By the crystalline staccato 
Of distant water
Beckoning a rendezvous
Arriving at the pristine waters
There upon it's banks
A large stone
That has been sculpted 
Smooth
By time itself
And warmed by 
the morning sun
Lying there 
I can both 
See the upstream
Waterfall
And catch 
My image
Cast in my direction
By the fathomless abyss
Of the stream's 
Reflective eye
There is 
A unfamiliar but welcome
Love and compassion
Emanating 
Up from the still
Depths 
The rippling waters
Are trance inducing
No longer 
Able to discern
Waking consciousness
What is then serving
As my awareness
Is impressed 
By the message 
I'm to receive 
Gifts 
That are to be
Impressed directly 
Into my heart
I am 
First visited
By a beautiful fairy
With silken wings
And breath-stealing
Emerald eyes
Doorways to the very
Life essence of the forest
She gives me 
Three acorns
Strength, Wisdom, Integrity
Next to visit 
A formless luminous spectre
Which presented a harp
 Seek "Harmony"
From far beneath
The surface
First 
Air bubbles
Broke the surface
Then stillness
Erupted
As a mermaid
Catapulted 
Herself skyward
And landed gently 
Upon the rock's surface
Right along side me
In her out stretched hands
Was the most exquisite Lotus
Symbolizing 
Rebirth, purity, spiritual awakening 
The mirrored surface of the stream 
Came to a rolling boil
Stirred by the undulating power
Of a dragon 
Whipping the water
Into a frothy nog-like state
As it made its way to the water's edge
It's scales gleamed an iridescent 
Rainbow's smile
From one massive clawed appendage
I was handed the most magnificent sword
Courage, Valour, Power and Compassion
The final visitor 
Betrayed it's stealth
As hooves hammered
A tell-tale rhythm
Before it's head broke 
Through the glade
A unicorn
The most radiant 
Of white
With a horn 
That refracted 
The sun
As does the most
Perfectly chiseled 
Gem's facet
From the Unicorn
The most
Complete transmission
Of Unconditional Love
Misguided concerns
of worthiness
Were vanquished instantaneously
As I stirred from 
My previous trance state
And began the return trek
And my mind
Began to assert itself
Having tired 
Of counting angels
It began to cast
Doubt 
Upon the events 
That had so recently
Unfolded
Hadn't they?
It was then
That my heart 
Began to beat 
Such that I was 
Sure it could be heard
Across the room
Across the nearly 
Faded veil
Left upon my consciousness
Flashed 
"All the treasure is in your chest." 


R. O'Neill (July 20, 2017)


Tuesday 18 July 2017

Legions of the Heart



Though the annals, 
Of history,
Are replete, 
With battlefield glory.
Which foist,
Warrior champions,
Into the limelight.
The day is dawning. 
When a new form, 
Of warrior. 
Will enter the arena.
Though most certainly, 
There have been, 
Those scattered throughout time.
With the exception,
Of a notable few,
These would truly,
Be the "unsung heroes."*
Warriors of the Heart.
The time is upon us.
That will reveal,
That the most sophisticated,
Technological weaponry,
Along with the most, 
Brilliant of military strategy,
Is futile and obsolete.
Until the tipping point,
Is reached.
The heart warriors,
Will be called upon,
To embody and enact,
What might seem,
like,
Superhuman courage.
As they sidestep, 
The temptation,
To engage in the status quo. 
To these stalwart warriors,
Warfare and battlefield insanity,
Will simple be unconscionable. 
The power of their stand,
Will be wildly unpopular,
In the beginning.
They may well encounter,
Huge resistance, 
From those that would,
Wish to uphold, 
Their perceived stations,
This will call, 
The warriors of the heart,
Into their full power.
As they refuse,
To succumb,
Their demonstration,
Of true power,
Will touch and inspire others, 
Whose numbers,
Will multiply exponentially.
These are the, 
Women and men,
That are poised, 
To write, 
The history books, 
of tomorrow.




*the context "heroes" is used here presumes no particular gender 


R. O'Neill (July 18, 2017)


Monday 17 July 2017

Ready.. Set.. Go!


You must trust. 
That once, 
You have left, 
The familiar ground,
Below your feet.
That you will, 
Be carried. 
Upon gossamer wing.
Soaring high above, 
And beyond,
The chasm.

Unless this is,
Not what happens at all.
Sometimes. 
Subsequent to the launch,
There is a rather,
Undignified pratfall.
Faith.
Could be said then,
To not guarantee, 
or underwrite,
The proverbial, 
"Leap."
Perhaps. 
Rather than, 
Paralyzing fear.
Eyes fixed.
Upon, 
The fateful crash.
Or 
Tying the hands,
Of Creation.
With a rigid, 
Expectation.
Faith is. 
Trusting in.
Another.
 New beginning.
So. 
The leap. 
Can be made.
With no fear. 
Of the crash.
Or form of outcome. 


R. O'Neill (July 17, 2017)