Poetry Archive - ~ Tending Joy ~

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Reflections on Loving Life

Posted on: October 21st, 2011 by ingrid No Comments

Love is the greatest fortune.
You will not amass it.
You are it.
~Ingrid

“The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love
and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it,
you will discover that for you the world is transformed.”
~Krishnamurti

Love Your Life

And a voice will come from the stillness
to give these words: Love your life.
You will know from its deep urging
to let go the well-worn list
of all you thought you first needed.
Begin here, freely,
from this muddy place.
It doesn’t matter if you are broken,
empty-handed, shabby.
Go now, into the day:
the open fields, markets,
the long trail to the sea.
Find all the ways
a lover loves the Beloved:
each hidden bloom, unspoken wound,
vagary of heart.
Become a brave and willing traveler
in a wild, forgotten terrain ~
a world of intimate tender relating,
infinite mystery, un-tethered joy.
Now, moving in this world, you know
that love is the greatest fortune.
Only, you will not amass it:
you are it.

~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff

(Often, when I am still enough, I feel words dropped into my being that are messages to ponder. The other day I received the words, “Love your Life,” and felt quite instantly that this didn’t mean I was meant to list with gratitude everything I felt was going rightly for me, or, conversely, to list everything I still felt was necessary before I could love my life, but that I was being asked to love my life as if it were my beloved. I was being urged to love my life as a lover would love- not as an end-point receiver of all good things, but as an intimate partner, a loving participant. I was being asked to approach my life with curiosity, pleasure, appreciation, forgiveness, compassion, playfulness, awe- to love as a lover in the deepest sense of the word. I realize that to receive this guidance is one thing- to live by it is a lifetime of practice, remembrance, forgetting…. remembrance… forgetting…and remembering!)

On being enough

Posted on: October 14th, 2011 by ingrid 2 Comments

When my dear friend Jan Lundy asked me for a poem on “Enough” for her Contentment Course, I found several in my collection What Holds Us. This poem speaks to being enough. I hope that as you read it, you feel yourself relax into the acceptance that you are, just as you are, enough. This is what walking does for me: puts me at ease; unravels knotted places; soothes an over-thinking mind; restores a sense of belonging. Perhaps scheduling some time in a beautiful place is a gift you might give yourself today. I hope so!

Hold Me Until I Know You

Benevolent Universe,
Your fields stretch out before me.
Wild roses emit their sweetness.
Daisies sway on the hillside.
The world seems friendly, relaxed,
intimate with my secrets,
and accepting of all of me.
The road, lined with ancient walls,
does not ask me
for change or improvements
before setting forth along it.
If this is not a grace, please
hold me until I know you.

~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff

The House Of Spirit

Posted on: October 7th, 2011 by ingrid 1 Comment

Something in me is so drawn to these words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house, a world; and beyond its world, a heaven.” I think it is my own spirit that loves these words- that loving inner awareness that witnesses and guides my life. I have an inkling that this spiritual self – or presence- or being- or soul – is here to experience life on earth in all of its delights and challenges, to learn some things, to participate and to contribute. And I have a deep sense that this spirit is firmly seated in, deeply rooted in, and lives in love, all the while longing to remember to be in this world as love, in love, held by love and as a channel for love.

I have built a house here with my family- and it is a messy house and a colorful house and a joyful house. It is a safe and comfortable house and, I hope, a loving house. Beyond this house- the world that we live in. And rippling out from this world, a heaven. “All the way to heaven,” said Saint Teresa of Avila, “is heaven.” My spirit knows that this is true.

Come friends, rest in the grace of this allowing.
Joy is the light radiance of our love affair with living.

I realize that creating a spiritual house is a common theme in many of my books.

Here is a poem from Moonlight and Remembrance:

Everything is sacred, precious.
I light candles, incense,
scatter beauty around my house:
color, delight, fragrance, spice,
texture, plants and flowers.
Let there be life and love
right out in the open.
Nothing to hide.
Nothing witheld.
Here foolishness,
simplicity and devotion
carry no shame.
Come friends, rest
in the grace of this allowing.
Joy is the light radiance
of our love affair with living.

And here is one from What Holds Us:

Sanctuary

Because I want holy temples and sacred rites
invoking the gods to come and live with us here forever,
and I long for the perfume of intimacy
with the living timeless Divine,
I went on the world wide web and bought
amber incense, oils, and a hundred beeswax candles.
Beeswax for their honey fragrance,
and the golden warmth they’d give our home.
My good husband noticed them arrive in two boxes,
and I sheepishly explained
the more you buy, the cheaper they are,
And he laughed and did not chastise me
for being a frivolous fool.
Instead he took me in his arms and said,
“I love you. You’re so much fun.”

This morning I glued some new House Blessings, and I thought of my own home, and the house of my spirit- the world my spirit builds, and beyond this world, a heaven.

HOUSE BLESSING

This house is Love’s house.
It is a sanctuary, a garden, a safe haven.
May it be delightful.
May it be a home that encourages
creativity and peace,
togetherness and private time.
May it be an environment
that celebrates life, untidy and ever flowing.
May simplicity be honored in this house,
valuing love above all else.
May daily chores and small moments
all be approached with reverence and with love.
Mistakes may be seen as lessons learned.
Kindness, forgiveness, laughter, joy,
and calm enthusiasm
will nourish all who enter through its doors.
May all who visit leave refreshed.
May all who live in this house
live in contentment and harmony,
dreaming many beautiful dreams,
rejoicing in the way things are.

written by Ingrid Goff-Maidoff

from the book, Good Mother, Welcome

Friends, I wish you a deep sense of belonging in the house of your spirit! With love and joy, Ingrid