All Is Well

Attended my father's funeral on Tuesday the 28th, and I am saturated with gratitude. My heart is full. There is such truth in the beauty that unfolds daily amidst the unpredictable challenges of life and chaos of the world. May we be present with what is within and around us. May how we are with ourselves and each other be a love letter that whispers encouragingly, "Live!" ~Oriah (Photo by Kristy Thompson)

Flying Lessons

My father is dying,

his grip still strong on my arm

begging me to help him leave.

Each day after work his coming home was

exuberance entering by the back screen door,

a loud metal lunch pail sliding across the kitchen floor.

me: running on short dimpled leghs, shouting,

“Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy!”

launching myself into the air from the top step

small arms wide, fearless,

knowing he’d catch me.

He was the scent of warm sun, clean sweat,

and creosote from the hydro poles he climbed.

He was strength and

green eyes that lit up when he saw me.

I was a small bird in his arms.

My father is dying,

his grip still strong on my heart

as I look for a way to help him fly.

- Oriah House (c) 2015 (Photo by Karen Dais from https://www.facebook.com/OpenDoorDreaming?fref=ts )

When The World Overwhelms

I print out poems on hot pink pages

handing them out in the business district,

moving through the dark cool canyons 

between towers of glass and steel.

Sometimes a poem is all you can do.
Like breathing,

or walking with your head tipped back

so you can see the sky.

~Oriah House (c) 2015

Spring Blessing

One day you wake up

able to name the weight 

you’ve been carrying.

Realizing it’s not part of your body or your being,

not essential in any way to journeying or joy,

you set it down gently, without fanfare

in the long soft grass at the side of the road

and walk on

surprised to find yourself

smiling in the warm sun

for no particular reason.

~Oriah Houser © 2015