My Remarks to Sydney International Poetry Festival

With Christine Chen and Anny Bing Xia

Greetings and Blessings from the Sydney International Poetry Festival 🙏🌏 Here are My Remarks at The Opening Ceremony...

You Know...

I oft wonder about Our World and how We tend to default to using Words as divide... This not That... Arguments and Accusations to Disagree.

But, as has been so amply illustrated Here today, Words are Best used To Unite... which is the physical Act of Writing actually... Words into Sentences, Sentences into Paragraphs, Paragraphs into Pages, and so on.

It reflects too The Oneness that Be, and lately I have been looking for This, and finding such tender fragile Humanity.

So, I wrote This...

Wearing so Many Faces

A challenge in jest

Always the best

To undress that wit

Pens and Feathers unfurled

Now, Look around

Yours and Mine

Show Me... That Which Is

The Divine

Amidst the everywhere so painfully Aware

The Human Side

Nursing aching Eternal inside

Yet only A Child

The Fire alive

Crying hopelessly, I die

With wriggles and whimpers

Calling out Your Name

Always, The Name

One and The Same

Gifted to Behold

Held so tender wild

I feel You everywhere

I open My Eyes to The Stare

And Lo, I Am that Glare

As I take a Breath

Inspire Aspire

Glimpsed... The Majesty

In Awe to Discover

This vivid tenderness

So raw, My Fragility

Then, Growing the awesome Courage

To Step upon Legacy

Not Me or Mine

Only Thine

The Eternal Divine

Above, The Dove

Draped in Love

To Orders, My Brothers, My Sisters

Forever in Hands

Crafts borne Openly

The Ancient speaks

Through the Son of Man

A Heart given Freely

Flashes of Knowing

Which are Becoming

Melting into The Pond of Dreams

Life is All

Our countless Faces

Reborn endlessly

So too the places and spaces

Even unto the unknown and untold

Brewing that Grandfather smell

Under tolling Church Bell

A Feeling so so Special

I Kneel before The Divine

Holy, Holy, Holy

And there the birds sing

Afloat in the air

Laden with joyful Spring

My Feet tread These Sacred Lands

Cousins, I hear Country

She is surly

Dancing the goannas

Stop Granny before She scolds

Bounding the kangaroos bold

My Child

To spend one more Moment

In worrying about yesterday

Is to die a little today

For Time comes

Wearing only tomorrow

And This the Promise

We face It together

Almighty in Infinity

The Essence of Forever

God’s Gifts, Our Treasure

It has been a pleasure to be with You today 🙏 Thank You