To Utter Words of ThanksMy lies to myselfLeft stains on the walls hereWhere I have my roots deep in my mother earthWhere I plant my wordsAnd harvest them in poetryAs the years pass into decadesIn this place I call homeThe harvests surprise even meWisdom leaves its signsLike stretch marks on a mother's girthRing the wind chimes and ceremonial bells out backAttract other lifeHear my calls to Great MysteryThe wailing-wall insideNow becomes the placeTo utter words of thanksMarsIMars seen through clear greenish blue eyesA hot reddish white dot in the skyOn a planet circling the sun, earth's sister in spaceIIWe were swimming in a river at flood stageHeading downstream for a bridge and huge terrifyingRapids were in the waySomehow got over to the tip of an island and hung onSaw other people swimmingAsking "How do we get to land safely?"Afraid we would dieAnd then I woke up, realized I'd been dreamingA sigh of reliefIIIIt was a good vacationRelaxing as vacations should beGood weather, pounding ocean waves, good companyAnd now we're homeCatching up to where we should beIVSomeday there will be air tight settlements on MarsWondering how many more cyclesBefore walking on the green, green grass of EarthEverythingISolitary miners dredging and digging, panningfor gold, afraid someone will steal their secret placeTheir wives and husbands reticent, hiding othersecrets in ugly places off rivers of bloodWho to believe in a world of liars and thieves?Yellow teeth and smoke filled lungs, implants andcrystallized drugsThere are times to trust and times to disagree,there are still good honest people near meSo many of us will sell our souls at the right price,sometimes too cheap, if offered rightIIWho am I to judge anything?If I could live my life like a monk, one foot in thiscorruption stained world, the other outside of itspiritually clean, my anchor to GodIf I could trust God in all things, no matter what,I would be free, even if He pulled out all my teeth, tookall my money, left me to write poetry, live in a housefull of beautiful art, gave me enough food to eat, a goodwoman to love, loyalty, peace, why would I fear anythingknowing in the end both feet would be spiritually cleanThen all is well, I need not worry, my lifestands like a tree raising its many arms to the sun,meditating on the meaning of its life catching everybit of light it can, accepting everything that happensequally, unable to change anything outside itselfbeing part of everything