the velveteen rabbit

now...you shall be real to everyone.

-margery williams (1881 - 1944)

moving water - a poem from rumi

meandering by stacy wills

(9" x 12" mixed media on watercolor paper)

moving water

when you do things from your soul,
you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

when actions come from another section, 
the feeling disappears.

don't let others lead you.  they may be blind or,
worse, vultures.

reach for the rope of god.  and what is that?
putting aside self-will.

because of willfulness people sit in jail, 
the trapped bird's wings are tied,
fish sizzle in the skillet.

...you've seen a magistrate inflict visible punishment.
now see the invisible.

if you could leave your selfishness, you would see
how you've been torturing your soul.

we are born and live inside black water
in a well.

how could we know what an open field of sunlight is?
Don't insist on going where you think you want to go.

ask the way to the spring.
your living pieces will form a harmony.

there is a moving palace that floats in the air
with balconies and clear water flowing through,

infinity everywhere, yet contained
under a single tent.

- rumi (1207 - 1273)
translated by coleman barks

connection

FAN-TAS-TIC

recently, i have been part of a collaborative art experience where each participant creates one blade for what will eventually become one complete fan.  this first blade was my contribution to that effort. 

i found the experience so enjoyable, however, that i went on to create two more, just for fun.

seems as though i have been bitten by the fan blade bug - and happily so!

i'm not sure what the finished project will look like, but i am certain  it will be FAN-TAS-TIC!

leaving the nest

leaving the nest  by stacy wills

befriending the rose

how can i befriend the rose?

she  does not lack 

 for admirers, yet

how many eager suitors

would pluck her

tightly bound

in hopes 

that she will bloom

in captivity.

but i,

i would let her be -

just as she is,

to flourish and thrive

on the vine -

in sunlight and rain,

darkness and moonbeam,

thorns and all.

-stacy wills (7/8/2012)

silence on fire

o be still, while

you are still alive,

and all things live around you

speaking (i do not hear)

to your own being,

speaking by the unknown

that is in you and in themselves.

i will try, like them

to be my own silence:

and this is difficult.  the whole

world is secretly on fire.  the stones

burn, even the stones they burn me.

how can a man be still or

listen to all things burning?

how can he dare to sit with them

when all their silence is on fire?

-thomas merton (1915 - 1968), 

from his poem, in silence