Author Archives: Patrick Cole

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About Patrick Cole

Husband, parent and writer. Sharing stories with a little humor and wisdom along the way.

Monday Morning After Easter

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WHICH VERSION WILL WIN TODAY?

“Enough about the need for hard work. I’m tired of all these excuses. You say to receive the best requires my effort to the point of bruises.

I thought my winning smile was sufficient, maybe with a twirl and a curtsy. But no, you say there’s practice and drills to the point that everything hurts me.

Why must there be pain before elation? Why must there be so much work? All I want is joy that comes easy; no pushups just an easy twerk.

Why must there be blood, sweat, and tears? Is success some sadistic sewn reap? I’d rather it be fun, light, and breezy like a gleeful diving board leap.

You say I can play all I want but rewards go only to the brave who put in the time and the energy that releases the creation we crave.

So now, I must decide, once again, how do I want to proceed: with focus and clarity and drive OR more ignorance, hate, and greed?”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.54

Plan A, Plan B, Plan C

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“It’s said that life is what happens while making other plans yet some of us were born to plan and with training we learn to make more than one: we are taught to make backup plans.

Why so many plans when life surprises? Why be prepared for any contingency?

When there’s so little we can control, is it possible to remain calm amidst emergency?

Oh, help us be the peace to support others. Help us be a way station in each storm. May we reveal the wisdom that supports us. May we reflect the sun that keeps us warm.”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.51

Be Still and Wait

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Fading Beauty

Beauty depends upon the type and number of drinks we’ve had before retreating to our parts in a play called “Ain’t It Bad.”

We hump our troubles for as long as we can or for at least an hour or two; a brief respite before we wake and ask, “God, what did we do?”

It’s back to work or some coffee cafe’ to while away our time agonizing over This versus That and differences far too sublime.

For at the end of our day, at the end of our play, at the end of each of our turns, our troubles are gone with beauty along when our ashes are put in their urns.

I AM FURIOUS (YELLOW), p.33

Good Friday?

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“Before we were born, before the universe even, when only love existed, events began, action was taken, love was revealed.

If dharma is truth, then dharma is love, and dharma is love in action.

There is thought, there is speech, and there is action … behavior …what we do.

I do not know another’s thought. I may or may not hear you speak, but I see your behavior, I see what you do.

Someone said, believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear. Someone said, be careful of your thoughts because they will lead to speech and be careful of your speech for it will lead to action.

Careful, careful, careful, but, I can only believe your action.”

Lady Julian Says It’s All Love Revealed from NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.32

Breath & Truth

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We Go Without Breath for Only So Long

“Stumbling into enlightenment – heard that phrase before. Must look it up and read it once again. Truth is never once and done; repeatedly it calls. We’re ever drawn to the light, like I am to Zen.

We go without breath for only so long, so too with water or food. Our physical existence is dependent upon matter, both beautiful and crude.

Likewise, our spiritual life depends upon a love that flows free from one to another to others still. Truth lives in community.”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.17

Tuesday in Michigan

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If you seek a pleasant peninsula

Traveling While I Can

“Moving often as a child, I learned to love to leave: every house, every school, with nothing up my sleeve. With each move, I learned to cull and never to look back; with repetition, I acquired this hard-earned traveling knack:

First, travel lighter, not much space in a pillowcase. Learn to rank and rate and savor the few.

Second, there are always new people to be met; down the road, there’s always something new.

At first, I was sad to “lose” or “leave behind” my “friends”, be they playmates or playthings. Yet I learned there were so many others to come; impermanence is the song to sing.

And that is why I love to travel; why brevity is a true friend. For someday, sooner or later, I know my traveling days will end.”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.9

Another Rainy Monday Morning

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We Still Have Something to Do

“Up and down, in an out, what will this day make?

Many things repeat, maybe some things change. Easier yesterday? Not so true today. Taking life as it comes? That’s too hard to take.

Waking up once again; wrong side of the bed. Made your bed? Now lie in it? Can this be true? Are we doomed to repeat ’til we recognize? Waking up simply means we are not yet dead.

Sometimes gay, sometimes not, sometimes we don’t know. Feelings come, feelings go; a cloud floats away.

Rise my friend. Do report. There’s work to be done. Clear your mind and perform ’til it’s time to go.”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p. 4

Too Stubborn to Die

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“It’s the journey and not the destination,” so the ancient nomads say. If every step brought new grief, wouldn’t you wander away?

Don’t be seduced, don’t fall in that rut of Who and How and What. Stop forgetting the Where and When; it’s always Here and Now and then:

Take your next step, your next move, your next breath … for you only live when you won’t settle for death.”

Tangoed Up & Blue, p.49

Note: find the Myth of Sisyphus artwork on http://www.ebay.com

Choosing Our Projection

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We cannot help projecting whatever we have inside. Poker face withstanding, our hearts reveal our tide.

Are we high or low? Are we healthy here and now? Try as we might, we cannot disguise the symphony on our brow.

Are we loving or hate-filled? Are we kind or mean? Our feelings exude and reveal; our inner world is seen.

And so I pay less attention to my looking glass; more attention to what I see and avoid my being crass.

As the moon reflects the sun, as water reflects the moon, my goal is to clearly project the truth of bright high noon.”

NATURAL BEAUTY AND OTHER POEMS, p.50