HERITAGE WITHIN SPIRIT

© 2010 Howard McQueen

The rainbow of addictive behaviors;
instant gratification,
self-centered destinations,
one-way tickets to desolation,
uncovering the gold beneath awakened suffering.

The dawn of re-discovering awareness
that spirit is what
brings the glow,
adds the radiance,
is the flow of life force
animating our flesh.

Flesh is our sacred home.
Flesh, organically grown
from the shared DNA of all earth life-giving clay,
crawling, swimming, climbing and clawing with all its animal urgings.

Sometimes it is challenging to dis-identify with
the imposed exclusivity of awareness
these powerful incarnate flesh desires
to mate, eat-or-be-eaten, to survive -- impose.

I am privileged to witness my own
and many other people’s stories,
their emergence and extraction of consciousness,
awakened from their own personal hell
embracing some level of Dante’s Inferno.

We are spirited animals,
many of us lost in the animalistic urges,
as well as in the throes of separation anxiety.
Many of us yet to be awakened to the more subtle
nobilities of also inhabiting and honoring
our heritage within spirit.

Let us provide encouragement and compassion
as we are able.