Dreaming 3

Passions revealed from within,
desires not yet sedated,
never once before believed,
such pleasures I’ve awaited.

Romance claimed lost,
desires now girded,
no more ecstatic long nights,
and not, just fulfilling a need.

But with lingering glances,
on satiny smooth broen skin,
through the night we languish,
in the erotica of lovemaking.

A candle lit dinner,
alone to test our will,
champagne on ice (?),
inhibitions to chill.

A fire in the hearth,
our only light,
yet we hold back the urges,
as passion fills the long dark night.

Caressing the hair below your neck,
a massage designed to please,
your breathing grows softer,
a sensual tease.

Lips finally meet,
so tender and hoping,
tongues intertwine,
searching but still not groping.

Finger tips race,
from your neck down your spine, a
wakening nerves the pleasure,
my tongue surrenders to your sweet divine.

Cloths whispered as they fell to the floor,
bringing pleasure in the skin they show,
no rush no hurry, we have all night,
so let’s continue to take it slow.

A trail of kisses,
the soft back of knees bent,
body’s aching and yearning,
eager to please and reinvent.

By the light of the fire,
two body’s join in an ancient rite,
as soft moans of pleasure,
become the sounds of our good night.

Just after another midnight

For me, to have to consider another's intention(s)
Only leads me to believe that perhaps I needn't have paid attention.
A song I wrote many years ago contained the line:

"Sometimes, I know that she like me other times, I don't think so.
Sometimes, I feel like she needs me other times, I just don't know!"

Maybe for some,
The lack of knowledge,
Or even the suspense
of not knowing the truth

Is something that's pleasurable?

For me though,
Pleasure comes in understanding.
Pleasure comes in knowledge
Not in confusion, or abstraction.

Monday (somewhere in the world right now);
For some, starts the week anew.

And yet for me,
Sunday always draws me to the edge of this new week.

And on this coming Sunday, I will be refreshed in the knowledge that
In order for anything to work, as in, in order for a sports team, In order for a family,
in order for a relationship to work, There has to be a reciprocal understanding.

No, I didn't say equal partnership.
I said reciprocal understanding.

I do some.
You do some.

Just as a chef cooks the food.
And yet, without the pantry chefs prep,
Dinner will not be served.

Or like last night @ the club;
The bartender pours,
The waitress serves
The Dj spins
The party gets to pop pin!

Life thus, requires an ebb and flow as well.

Half way!
Or even part way sometimes!

But all the way myself?
Not if you want it all yourself.

In giving, in reaching beyond, and in not just only receiving,
then a true reciprocal understanding unfolds betweens
not just us two, and in that, a better life unfolds, grows,
and blends beautifully into a lasting bliss!

And in that, my weekend just got better.

I’ll share, because we all need to write someone;

In the between, true enough though, I was definitely coming that way, and then, I hesitated for no reason other than, well, I hesitated, and now I'll just have to wait until January to head back East.

And you, will you ever grace me with some of your undivided attention? Yes, I know the answer to that, but I wanted to be petulant. Anyhoo, the west is refreshing as always. Me and the queen mother are still enjoying each others company, she is persuaded by my cooking and affectionate ability to keep her on task, me, because down deep, think she's really nice.

Work is a problem, but I've been thinking of developing my coaching business again, so I am unfazed by the economy of the short side. Plus, I think there will be great opportunities to sell and/or provide services now that almost everybody is outsourcing labor to lower cost.

The weather is always great.
Some cold nights, a few rainy days, but nothing like the hawk!

Thanksgiving this year though will be festive. I have a good friend here (a Mexican brother, his Philippine wife, their son and I are close) who we will be sharing the festive table with. His mother in law moved here in September, and his mom and dad live near by, so we'll all hook up out in Eagle Point for a blend of traditional, Asian and soul food. It will be nice!

Well, I could say more, but, I better hold my tongue.
Always good to see your (personal) words in my inbox though. And of course, when you're not editing yourself, it's always a pleasure to read your deeper thoughts on-line. As always, be good in the between my friend(s), and remember; real love, like a really good life, is usually not reflected in what we think it should act, look, or even be like, and that's the reason why it's so good to have in the end!

Stillness yes, will put a floor underneath you, but real expression will set you free!

Most assuredly,

Edward Jr.

"Truly, I just like people to be themselves, and therefore,
open to the honesty that is contained, within us both!"

Finishing Our Work: Martin L. Friedman

"And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.

A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America's Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.

This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King's I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America's white majority actually elected an African-American as president.

That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.

How did Obama pull it off? To be sure, it probably took a once-in-a-century economic crisis to get enough white people to vote for a black man. And to be sure, Obama's better organization, calm manner, mellifluous speaking style and unthreatening message of "change" all served him well.

But there also may have been something of a "Buffett effect" that countered the supposed "Bradley effect" — white voters telling pollsters they'd vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men's grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.

Why? Some did it because they sensed how inspired and hopeful their kids were about an Obama presidency, and they not only didn't want to dash those hopes, they secretly wanted to share them. Others intuitively embraced Warren Buffett's view that if you are rich and successful today, it is first and foremost because you were lucky enough to be born in America at this time — and never forget that. So, we need to get back to fixing our country — we need a president who can unify us for nation-building at home.

And somewhere they also knew that after the abysmal performance of the Bush team, there had to be consequences for the Republican Party. Electing McCain now would have, in some way, meant rewarding incompetence. It would have made a mockery of accountability in government and unleashed a wave of cynicism in America that would have been deeply corrosive.

Obama will always be our first black president. But can he be one of our few great presidents? He is going to have his chance because our greatest presidents are those who assumed the office at some of our darkest hours and at the bottom of some of our deepest holes.

"Taking office at a time of crisis doesn't guarantee greatness, but it can be an occasion for it," argued the Harvard University political philosopher Michael Sandel. "That was certainly the case with Lincoln, F.D.R. and Truman." Part of F.D.R.'s greatness, though, "was that he gradually wove a new governing political philosophy — the New Deal — out of the rubble and political disarray of the economic depression he inherited." Obama will need to do the same, but these things take time.

"F.D.R. did not run on the New Deal in 1932," said Sandel. "He ran on balancing the budget. Like Obama, he did not take office with a clearly articulated governing philosophy. He arrived with a confident, activist spirit and experimented. Not until 1936 did we have a presidential campaign about the New Deal. 

What Obama's equivalent will be, even he doesn't know. It will emerge as he grapples with the economy, energy and America's role in the world. These challenges are so great that he will only succeed if he is able to articulate a new politics of the common good."Bush & Co. did not believe that government could be an instrument of the common good. 

They neutered their cabinet secretaries and appointed hacks to big jobs. For them, pursuit of the common good was all about pursuit of individual self-interest. Voters rebelled against that. But there was also a rebellion against a traditional Democratic version of the common good — that it is simply the sum of all interest groups clamoring for their share. 

"In this election, the American public rejected these narrow notions of the common good," argued Sandel. "Most people now accept that unfettered markets don't serve the public good. Markets generate abundance, but they can also breed excessive insecurity and risk. Even before the financial meltdown, we've seen a massive shift of risk from corporations to the individual. 

Obama will have to reinvent government as an instrument of the common good — to regulate markets, to protect citizens against the risks of unemployment and ill health, to invest in energy independence.

"But a new politics of the common good can't be only about government and markets. "It must also be about a new patriotism — about what it means to be a citizen," said Sandel. "This is the deepest chord Obama's campaign evoked. The biggest applause line in his stump speech was the one that said every American will have a chance to go to college provided he or she performs a period of national service — in the military, in the Peace Corps or in the community. 

Obama's campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again."None of this will be easy. But my gut tells me that of all the changes that will be ushered in by an Obama presidency, breaking with our racial past may turn out to be the least of them. 

There is just so much work to be done. 

The Civil War is over.

Let reconstruction begin."


Amen.....

Right before your eyes:

In the reality of this moment, I guess I'm a little speechless.
what with the emotions, and the tactile feeling of change,
even I have to step back a few feet and take it all in.

So now what?

Is the era of unnecessary hatred and the
corresponding fear finally behind us?
Or is the ground beneath us going to start shaking
with the inevitable consequences of denial?

Me, I was weeping.

Then I was overjoyed beyond tears.

And really, this has nothing to do with the obvious,
and more to do with the ways, as of yet unimagined,
the world just changed.

Worshiping at the alter of Ken and Barbie,
living the unreal life of Hedge Funds and Golf Ranges,
what are the architects of our previous discomfort going to do now
that their world has been breached by the common American?

Yes, I lived in some of those red states too, and no,
I'm not all that concerned about what those people are up to,
for in the absence of an obvious leader, the herded masses
always sit quietly, waiting for someone to stir up their fears and anxieties,
and this time, at this moment, no one is prepared to go down that road.

Which brings me back to the present.

Change baby, real, concrete, undeniable change has happened.

Therefore I implore you, think stronger, speak bolder,
have the heart to say what you truly feel,
for this moment came for us all,
and if you can't embrace it,
time and timing has dictated in the past,
that without full acceptance of an opportunity,
that chance, that once in a life time surrender
will be snatched back before you(and I) know it.

Me, I have a lot to think about now.

Many things that I have neglected have to now be reconciled,
so that I can change too!

You, you had better wash in the euphoria of the here
and dam better right now,
and come correct.

For time is the weapon of change,
and wasting time is the opening that ensnares.

Some days

(some weeks even), I just write more than others.

On this day then, here's what I'm thinking:

Patience, though an alleged virtue, is not something that I ascribe to during my walk in this life. Not just because, we leave this place without enough notice or fore warning, but because I can recognize the reality of the moment(s). Not always by using words, and not even by listening to the words of others. Mostly, I believe that life is dedicated to the living.

Actually, contained in the word life, is the inherent knowledge that life is about living, that being alive to my senses, alive to the wind, to the stars, to the movement of rain against my skin, and the songs the trees sing.

Not to say that if you’re afraid of life, afraid of living that we don’t have enough in common to continue. Nor even to say that within the trepidation that some seem to hide behind, there isn’t a desire to breathe deeply, just that for me, I’ve known the loss. I’ve seen the wasted, and that just doesn’t seem to me, to be the reason why I’m still here!

Plus, whereas this could be the last words I wrote, or even that this could be the last breath I draw, why shouldn’t I see the beauty of the now, why shouldn’t I embrace this opportunity and exhale?

One this day then, here’s what I’m thinking;

Should it please you to live underneath the fear contained in the not knowing, or even if you’re under the impression that not wanting to know the truth that can exist between us, is the better conclusion, that’s okay with me. Not as okay as knowing you after I hit the send key, or even as okay as seeing you from across the room and basking in the radiant knowledge that we’re still more than just friends, but then again, not all friends are friendly, just like, not all humans are willing to be humane.

Me, I’m unafraid.

Sure, I fear death and the Lords wrath.

But, in the between of here and there, me, I have to live.
I have to embrace this life.
I have to embrace the wonder of being alive.

Anything less than that, seems to be disrespectful of the blessing!

And on this day, it just had to be said……

Wednesday finds me thinking out loud:

It is widely understood, but rarely admitted, that a 
woman exerts a powerful influence over her man's 
life, and his overall pursuit of happiness therein.

So, it's really no surprise that when she is lit up and shining, as her man, you usually have a great day,
and the world seems that much brighter, and everything is  
as it should be, plus, life is good.

However, on the flip side, you also know, that when 
she's in a bad mood, you're whole world is open to trouble! 

Whether it is conscious or unconscious, a woman has an 
extraordinary ability to influence her man's happiness. 
In fact, so strong is this influence, so powerful is 
her ability to expand his happiness or to squeeze the joy out of him, that we can make this bold statement: 
a woman can also put a ceiling on a man's happiness. 

So how can we as men take advantage of this information?

One powerful strategy is to put so much attention on 
her happiness, that the woman reaches a point of abundant
surplus in her life. In this way, she'll feel so naturally happy and contented with the world, and the attention she is receiving from it, that this abundance will spill over to her man and othe ther people around her. 

(Note to the ladies: in order to reach that point 
of surplus you must be open to receiving it. To provide
a visual example: you can't pour water into a closed 
container. So practice being open to receive all the 
pleasure a man has and is willing to give towards you.)

And remember my brothers, this isn't the gospel.
It's simply one other way to be a better man, and 
not just for your woman, but for all the other men
she may encounter after you!

You may now go back to being unaware..............

All too often;

I hear from people who are afraid to speak.

I know, sounds like a contradiction, and yet, there
are so many amongst us, which just refuse to see past
the obvious limitations of their thoughts, and reach further!

Now, I'm not complaining, because if it wasn't for the closed mind,
it would be difficult for me to make a living, but really, is that all there is to it?

Truly, it is so dark now, that even I look forward to a greater darkness to come,
if not but to only run up my billable hours? 

Enough!

For me, stepping past the upcoming election and the harsh reality of
so many hurting Americans (yes, I have foreign friends too), me,
I just want to work towards something better.

Maybe I'll rent out the guest house.

Or for sure, I'll have a singles thanksgiving party this year,
just so the lonely can at least not be so on that one day.

But more than that, I just want to move past the detritus that is this life
we are too often forced to live in, because of the arrogance and ignorance
of those who claimed to no longer need our participation, and yet,
still spend so much of their free time, trying to make our lives 
as miserable as theirs!

Today, I just couldn’t spend another moment caught up in it.

Maybe I’ll just go bowling for lunch?

1 Corinthians 13

Love

1: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.

3: If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,
but have not love, I gain nothing.

4: Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5: It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
and it keeps no record of wrongs.

6: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7: It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

8: Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge,
it will pass away.

9: For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10: but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

11: When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

12: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13: And now these three remain:
Faith, Hope and Love.

But the greatest of these, is Love.


Amen..........

October begins

And in so many ways,
the anxiety persists.

Why is this?

Sure, not wanting to see past the obvious is easier for some,
and yet, real time is something that most people only seem to devote
to things, that waste it anyway, as for me, I have a better idea:

Why don’t we love without fear.
Connect without deceit.
Embrace without artifice?

For without pure knowledge,
there will never be connection(s),
and without connecting,
me, I'm not really interested!

So with that said,
I’ll sleep better knowing the truth.

The world isn’t going to end soon,
food and shelter is only a phone call away,
And no matter what the talking heads proclaim;

If and when Jesus returns,
I’ll still be me.

And in that,
You can find peace too!

Do You know me?

Are you breathin'
When I'm in the air
Do you feel me
When you comb your hair

Can you feel the rain
Hit the side as you walk around you
Like an angel's heart
I'll fly high as a hidden cloud

And you know me...
Yes you know me...

Do I scare you
When I come too close
Does the room you're in
come to a sudden cloud

I can hear you cry
Like a kid with an injured knee
I can see you pray for me
Before you lay to sleep

Do you know me
You should know me

How can you feel alone at night
Even when I'm by your side
Can you hear me laugh in the wind
Does it ease your mind
If you never see me again
I will always be your friend
Like an angel's heart
I'll blend within the wind

Do you see me

Yeah, you should see me
I can fly, I can fly
How high? As high as the wind can fly

Yeah you should know me
Oh! Yeah I'm your ghost
I'm watching over you
Oh! I'm your ghost

If you never let me know
How will I know
How can I be your guide
Are you fearing death or life
Can you make up your mind

Do you know me?

Words have meaning(s):

Contain:

—Synonyms 1. Contain, accommodate, hold, express the idea that something is so designed that something else can exist or be placed within it. Contain refers to what is actually within a given container. Hold emphasizes the idea of keeping within bounds; it refers also to the greatest amount that can be kept within a given space. Accommodate means to contain comfortably.
3. Embody, embrace.

Restrain:

—Synonyms 1. bridle, suppress, constrain.
2. restrict, circumscribe, confine, hinder, hamper.

Calm:

—Synonyms 1. quiet, motionless. 3. placid, peaceful, serene, self-possessed. Calm, collected, composed, cool imply the absence of agitation. Calm implies an unruffled state, esp. under disturbing conditions: calm in a crisis. Collected implies complete inner command of oneself, usually as the result of an effort: He remained collected in spite of the excitement. One who is composed has or has gained dignified self-possession: pale but composed. Cool implies clarity of judgment along with apparent absence of strong feeling or excitement, esp. in circumstances of danger or strain: so cool that he seemed calm. 7. still, quiet, tranquilize; allay, assuage, mollify, soothe, soften.

Enable:

—Synonyms 1. furnish, supply, render, bear. 3. abandon, abdicate, waive, forgo. Yield, submit, surrender mean to give way or give up to someone or something. To yield is to concede under some degree of pressure, but not necessarily to surrender totally: to yield ground to an enemy. To submit is to give up more completely to authority, superior force, etc., and to cease opposition, although usually with reluctance: to submit to control. To surrender is to give up complete possession of, relinquish, and cease claim to: to surrender a fortress, one's freedom, rights. 6. render. 10. give in, comply, accept.

Release:

—Synonyms 1. loose, deliver. Release, free, liberate, emancipate may all mean to set at liberty, let loose, or let go. Release and free, when applied to persons, suggest a helpful action. Both may be used (not always interchangeably) of delivering a person from confinement or obligation: to free or release prisoners. Free (less often, release) is also used for delivering a person from pain, sorrow, etc.: to free from fear as well.


And me, I like words!

Dix Hills NY

Friendship is a promise
spoken only by the heart,

it isn't given by any pledge,
it isn't written on just any paper,

but friendship
is a promise that is renewed
every time two friends meet
and smile and enjoy
the good times
that come from simply
being together.

It's a promise
to share
both glad
and sad times.

A promise to think
of each other fondly
whether near or far apart.

Friendship
is promise spoken only by heart…

A promise
that you and I will always share!

(Truly) All depends on the Breath:

"Without it,
we are nothing.

Worship it as your soul–
for surely it is that.

All breath
depends upon the wind–
that connecting us to all else

The wind,
God’s breath,
nourishes us
lifts us up,
allows us to be.

Therefore,

Give thanks
for breath
and the wind.

They are
our best friends.

Though invisible,
together
they are our
foundation.

May you breathe
and dance
in the wind,
forever......."

The hours point to a conclusion:

New York,
The east coast for that matter,
Has been a very restive moment for me.

True enough,
Though I live in the comfort
Of many hills,

Oddly enough
Within the caverns of the
Metropolitan eastern corridor,

I am strangely
And calmly
At home!


In leaving then
In returning thus,

I guess the thing(s)
That’s on my mind the most
Is what I’ve missed,

Those I was unable to connect with
And the feeling that
Even in departing(again),
My heart will once again

Remain behind....

Reality, is often too compicated

Oddly enough, I discovered something I knew existed,
and yet, even in seeking out the discovery,
I'm still searching for the right words to describe it.

Me, I know you.
Not because of the obvious,
for that which is known
in all honesty, is quite obscured.

For me, looking at you,
I see some of myself,
and yet, honesty tells me
what we have in common,
is not that common after all.

Words then, are going to sound different
for under it all, is not the foundation
you've come to believe existed.

Me, I'm part,
but not quite contained
within the parcel.
You, you are also unique.

Should I bridge this?
Do I even have a choice?

In my mind,
the answer is simple.

And yet,
how will you react?

Though the answer is obvious,
the leap is great!

Care to believe?

For aside from the truth,
how else can the pain reside?

Tears are wasted.
Wine goes untasted,
and still, you're alone.

Alone, seeking the truth in others
who fail to connect,
alone in the truth of the others
who refuse to accept.

Still,
your tears remind me of hope.

Why is that?

Sunday morning in the city

And there are so many sights
and sounds to remind me that I'm home.

Gypsy cabs honking on the boulevard,
Korean cooks, and Haitian seamstresses,
each hustling to earn enough to send home to their families,
far from the crush of our immediate here and now home.

NY (Brooklyn to be precise),
not the home of my youth,
or even the home where I left my children to grow up within,
but home nevertheless!

Here, in the cradle of my immediate family,
still I long to see my sons and hear their laughter,
answer their questions and wipe away their tears.

But, as is often the case,
nothing lately is ever certain about
our being able to connect this time,
and in that, there is a deepr sadness that's harder to handle than
when I'm 3,000 miles away from this home.

@ this home, a neighbor
plays a piano somewhere done the block.
@ this home, Manuel stops in to show some
of his latest work, and we reminisce together
about all the moments missed since last
we were together here,
in this other place we've learned to call home.

Home, it's nice to be here,
nicer still to be closer to those
I've been so far away from in my absence,
and yet, this home, is so much less
than what I always dream it to be,
when I'm imagining it from the
distance of my other home,
in the valley where I dream about my home!

You know how

Late at night,
you can hear my voice
in your thoughts?

I wonder about that too.

Wonder about the connection
that remains unbroken,
even though the time
and the timing
of it all doesn't always
quite feel right.

And yet,
this night,
I could sense your hearing
and in that, my voice
grew stronger.

This
I liked
as well!

Thank you......

I almost forgot(Saving Grace by Seal);

"So strange
It's funny how
We came to meet

Those eyes uncanny
Were my invitation

I couldn't wait
To hold you like a baby

Is this what it feels like
You are here now
Oh but I
Can't seem to find our state of grace
Who knows tomorrow may never come
One touch, one look that is all it takes
These things forever change us

This is the sound of a feeling
that's caught in my head
Makes me think about something you said
To take away my fears

Oh but I
This is the sound of a woken man

Why don't you tell me its you babe
I found you
You babe

Oh but I
Can't seem to find that state of grace
Who knows tomorrow may never come
One touch, one look that is all it takes
These things forever change us

Look at the past
No savoir faire
No that's not us

Oh but I
I can't seem to find my state of grace
Who knows tomorrow may never come
One touch, one look that is all it takes
These things forever change us

These things forever change us"

Just as does the natural world,

The lives of each one of us also have seasons.

Learning to embrace these seasonal changes and to perceive and enjoy
the unique and beautiful characteristics of each of the seasons your in,
is the essence of living life to the fullest.

To seek and then achieve this perspective,
enables one to absorb the present with delight,
look forward with eager anticipation upon our tomorrows,
and thus, be able look backward with simple satisfaction, and no regrets.

Thus, as you move through the remainder of this present season,
consider these thoughts;

Reflect
on your need
to control others in your life.

Work with yourself
on gradually letting go of this need
so that you can learn to live within yourself.

After all,
control is just
an illusion after all.

Trust yourself first
and then, you will
be able to trust
others as well.

Support and nurture your mind and body
with a healthy diet and reasonable amounts of exercise.

Actively encourage
the growth of your
intuitive self,
for this is who you really are.

Listen,
and then do.

For in this way,
I can hear you as well.