Part II

COSMIC CHI AND COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS

Minding the Earth

Expressing great energy

An awareness for the whole universe

Mysterious force uniting the cosmos

Pulsing through our bodies

Flowing through the earth

Uniting all the elements

Into a single field of being

Releasing into our world

Connecting us to the entire thing

Seeing chi

Feeling chi

Touching chi

Experiencing its patterns

Of environmental movement

In an auspicious spot of earth

With nature all around

Bringing enlightenment

An attunement

Of cosmic consciousness

And atonement

With being

Just ourself

We muse

We meander

We wonder

We meditate

We contemplate

We entertain

Our being

Delighting in the play

Of the light and shadows

In the dance of colors

In the diversity of life

And the richness of language

Even in death

It celebrates

The cycle of life

On the cosmic wheel of being

Even in darkness

It sheds a little light

With a dancing flame

Even in the depths

Of sentiment and meditation

It dances

With a dancing universe

Even in tears of tragedy

It smiles in joy

Even in the ears of silence

It sings softly

Child's play

Simplicity is its complexity

Ease is its subtlety

Innocence and naivete'

Its sublimity

Its spirit

Its entire being

Cosmic Chi

Comic Chi

The Optimism

Of a confident cosmos

Always seeing a donut

Always drink from a half-empty glass

That's half-full of water

It sees sunshine on hillsides

Contrasted by shadows

Delighting in diversity

Seeing unity in difference

Finding order in chaos

And complexity

In simple things

CHILDREN OF THE EARTH

The earth is not ours

But we are the earth's

It created us from its many elements

And takes us back again

When we are done

We are its children and creation

It is our parent and our maker

We belong to the dirt and the many stones

Like trees standing rooted to the ground

We belong to the hills and the streams

Like forests and the fish

We belong to its mountains

And to its oceans

And deserts

We belong to its rain, its wind and its ice

To its sun and its moon

Its body is not our body to do as we please

And to desecrate irreverently

Our bodies are its bodies

That we must eventually return

To the earth

WORN EARTH

I trace the lines

That has formed from the rain

To carry it away

I finger the cracks

That has come since last year

And pick up a few loose grains of sand

Piled at the base

The marks of age

And trappings of time

Lichen and moss

Upon the rough face of this boulder

Half buried in the sand

Of the mountain's shoulder

The wind blowing strongly against my back

With my hand

Tracing intricate patterns

Of growth and decay

Another rock

Worn with the weary wind

The resemblance of a human face

Almost like a petro-glyph

An anonymous portrait

Of some ancient being

There are the shadows

Of the hollow eyes

The protruding proboscis

It's end broken off

As if some classic guise

The half-curled lips

Of a half-open mouth

Without a significant chin

Worthy of mention

I walk among the fallen rocks

And the littered decay

Of dead bushes and branches

I follow a little gully

As it drops down into the plain of the desert valley

It grows wider and deeper

Its banks soon reach above my head

And it has branched off here and there

As I leave a trail of boot prints

On the sandy bottom

Flattening out

It opens up to a view of the plain

The rocks are all but gone

Now green growth appears

Small mesquite trees

And desert pommegranites

Some yuccas and clumps of sage

I walk out upon the dry plain

Its sand crusty and hard

The wind has brushed away

All the excess

I come to a finger of a sharp canyon

Cut in the middle of the wide plain

Like a long knarled hand stretching

Out across the middle

In a desperate grasp to wring the land

Of its last remaining drops of water

At the bottom of this canyon a damp stream bed

Evidence of a recent summer storm

I follow the meandering line of the canyon

With my level eyes

It disappears into a mountain shadow

On the other end of the flat, dish shaped valley

And above the mountain think clouds are gathering

For another afternoon thundershower

I look around and try to imagine myself

Standing at the bottom of an ancient ocean bed

The cactus become the undersea coral

And the bleached white bones of some unfortunate animal

The fossil remains of a gigantic sea creature

EARTH ENERGY

Along contours of hillsides

And long chains of mountain-tops and valleys

Hidden by misty clouds

Meandering streams and rivers form

Ocean waves swelling and curling and breaking against the rocks

Pounding heavily upon the sandy beaches

Washing up seaweed and debris with the foam

Flotsam forming tidal lines

Along the ocean's edges

High water marks of flooding rivers

Low water's edge of drying lakes

In the ebb and flow of life

Earthquake faults

And silent lava beds of extinct volcanoes

Recent eruptions of vast plumes of smoke and gas

Booming of distant thunder and lightening crashing near-by

Mid-afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains

And clear desert moonscapes

The earth's energy flows in many different ways

Creating many different forms and shapes

No two alike

CONVERGENCE upon a CLIFF

Experience the convergence

Of elemental energies

While standing upon the edge of a cliff

Along the coast of Northern California

A convergence of forces too intense

So sublime in beauty and powerful in feeling

I could not keep back the silent tears of joy and wonder

Looking down into the waves crashing against the rocks

Up and down the coastline

The atmospheric perspective

Of receding points and small inlets

Reaching out with my arms to the surface of the ocean

Receding in windy blue whitecaps

To the far off horizon

With the shadowy silhouette of a large ship

Looming in slow motion in the gray haze

The waves breaking so far off shore

Seemed frightening and too powerful to swim in

I suddenly became dizzy and lost my sense of balance

I spread out my arms to encompass the view

And felt the wind pull be down over the edge

And suddenly I grew long wings like a bird of prey

And glided down and swooped along the rocks

Looking at my body floating peacefully in the surf

Lifelessly pounded by the huge waves

Then I drifted upward slowly

And soared into the blue cloudless sky

And then turning again, flying low

Swooped straight across the ocean's choppy surface

Heading directly toward the orb of the sun

That was quickly approaching the horizon

Briefly looking back to see the small sea birds circling

Circling against the shrinking cliffs

Where I was once just standing

And then finally turning

Soaring higher and higher

Into the blue heavens

Experiencing the environmental energies

Too intense to stand for long

Without suddenly flying away

I slowly took the keys from my pants pocket

And walked back to my old green car in silence

Unsure where exactly to place my feet

OCEAN TYPHOON

In the well deck

Of a large landing ship

Headed for the Republic of the Philippines

The task force steers directly into a large typhoon

Following in its wake for four days and nights

We sit silently upon our swaying tanks

At the very bottom hold of the big ship

As it rolls from corner to corner

Forward and backward and forward again

Silently we wait and watch

As the ship rolls back under

A hundred foot wall of water

Rising above the entire ship

Over the big rear ramp

Looming motionless for just a moment

Suspended in thin air above the crest of a wave

And then disappearing with the forward roll of the ship

We wait

With nothing more to do than to sleep

And eat some C rations

Waiting anxiously, helplessly

For the next huge wave to appear

During the backward roll of the ship

Waiting endlessly

For the storm to pass

No reason to fear, there is no where to go

Trusting only in the skills of the pilot

And the good sense of the ships commander

No need to climb up the decks to the mess

Getting too sea sick on the way to eat

And even if we had made it there

We would not keep from sliding across the floor

Or could not keep our plates and utensils in one place

Better to stay put down below

Curled up in fetal positions

Asleep on the camouflage netting

Or playing poker under a flashlight

Or hiding in the red lights inside the tanks

Smitty doesn't speak for a couple of days

Mumbling only to himself

Pacing peripateticly to and thro

Up to the edge of the ballast holes

Where the ocean water jets up like a geyser

Flooding the lowest section of the well deck

And Smitty gets drenched in cold seawater

J.R. finally throws my little ticking traveler's clock

The kind that one has to keep rewinding

And smashes it again the metal hull of the ship

And then, picking up all the pieces

Hands them back to me, saying

"Here is your clock back, thanks for letting me use it"

On the evening of the second day

During a lull in the storm

We are permitted to spend fifteen minutes on the outside quarter deck

To stretch our legs and fill our lungs with fresh air

There we look out and see the calm of the nearby seas

With sun-rays breaking through the clouds here and there

Casting yellow glowing spots on the ocean surface

In the great distances of the gray seas

We see all around us a ring of storms with huge waves breaking upon them selves

The waves appear so small in the distance, and yet well so hugely in our imaginations

Finally we wake up and the storm is ended

We go upon the quarterdeck

And see the blue skies and sun shinning brightly upon the hills

Of the "Straits of San Miguel"

Thatched huts sit upon the hillsides, beneath green coconut trees

Happy to be standing once again upon an even surface in a level sea

We hear the news that a sister ship of the task force

Had lost the starboard side of its stern gate

And had to be towed to dock

For emergency repairs

And that during our absence from the mess hall

The salty old sailors

Ate steak and lobster

PASSING a SMALL ISLAND in the MIDDLE of the PACIFIC

Standing upon the quarter deck

Watching the rough surf of the sea

Not five miles off the port stern

A single small round island in the midst of a huge blue ocean

Feeling compelled to wonder what was on it

Its solitariness inviting me to visit and explore there

It's wild remoteness standing out in sharp contrast to the surrounding sea

Wishing I could take a small boats and explores its hidden interior

I watched it slowly pass us by

In silent fascination

Until it faded out behind us

It was round, rising straight up out of the water

Like a small blemish on the face of the Pacific

With deep green jungle growth

At its closest one could see its individual trees

I wondered if it even had a name

Or if it were charted on a map

I wondered if someone had ever visited there

Or maybe even lived upon it

Isolated as it seemed from the rest of the world

Or if everyone just passed it by

On the way to busier places

Like we were then doing

This small island made a lasting impression

Upon my mind's eye

One that I've never since forgotten

MIDNIGHT THUNDERSTORM

The thunderstorm arrived late last night

With the limb of the pine tree brushing against our bedroom window

Then came the rains drumming against our windows and the roof

Engulfing the entire wood frame of the house

In a deafenning deluge of water falling from the midnight sky

The cars outside wooshing along the rain-flooded street

Water spraying continuously under their wheel wells

The street lights and signs multiplying through the beaded window pane

The outside world shinning obscurely through the rain

First we could hear the thunder

Booming nearer and nearer

Then came the flashes of lightening

The bolts crashing all around us

Sounding too close for comfort

The wind was blowing hard, making the old house creak and groan in strain

We lay there wide awake, unable to fall back to sleep

We just listened silently in the darkness, punctuated with the lightening flashes

Trying to count the seconds until their reports

Trying to imagine where they were striking

Unable to do anything more

I get up and walk through the intermittent shadows of the house

I go to the other corner where the wind isn't blowing as hard

I peek through the unshaded window

The rain is not obscuring the view

There through my window were my two next door neighbors

Two middle-aged spinsters

School teachers sitting on their common porch

Appearing like apparitions in the lightening flashes

Talking to one another and very relaxed

As a bolt of lightening strikes not one hundred yards down the road

I watch them several minutes unnoticed

Amazed by their fearless fascination of the storm

They seemed like ghosts in the night

Unaware that anyone was watching them

Finally growing sleepy, I went back to bed

With the storm tapering off

But I lay there wondering how long they had been sitting there

And what they were talking about

And the experiences they were sharing

The thrill of the thunderstorm upon the porch

The morning newspaper

Told of tornadoes touching down in adjacent villages

Demolishing several homes

And the river had swollen to flooding

Just down our street

WIND and WAVES

Wind whips and sways

Waves roll and break

Winds blow, water flows

From these constants

Earth emerges

Takes shape

And changes

These few things

Forces and forms

Powers revealing

And time healing

Mending and bending

Ending and beginning

Water world bleeding

Windy earth breathing

The wind blowing

Across the water's surface

Waves rippling

Along the edges

From these sources

All life begins

All changes happen

All things end

INTOXICATED on FUJIYAMA

Starting out early one morning

The climb up Mt. Fuji took four hours

It was an exhilarating freedom for me

A break from the oppressive barrack routine

A steep vertical ascent

Made more difficult by the red pumice

That would give way beneath one's feet

I was the first to reach the top

Everyone else crapped out

A third of the way back down

And rode on the blade of a bulldozer

Slowly climbing straight up

Towards the top

I found a small Japanese sundry shop

And bought four cans of cold Japanese beer

By the time I was at the rim

I had already swallowed down three

And the altitude, the thin air, the exhaustion

Made me nauseous and I couldn't finish the last

I ran around the top of the rim

A good mile and a half in circumference

Four times, feeling quite intoxicated

I would look out over every edge

And I could see in all directions

Everywhere a continuous layer of clouds

Like a soft carpet at the foot of the mountaintop

Stretching until the distant horizon

The sky above the deepest, coldest blue imaginable

The sun shone brightly

Once in a while, here and there

Little holes in the clouds

And the blue glinting of ocean beneath

This barren mountaintop

Stood within heaven's reach

The crater in the center

Was filled with muddy yellow, sulfurous water

That slowly bubbled from beneath

A tunnel leading down

Directly to hell

We went back down

The other side of the mountain

And our way was covered in an eerie fog

That clung stilly to the mountainsides

There was not sun, nor shade

The air was damp and moist

And my thighs were now so sore and stiff

And my ankles ached

That I could hardly lift my legs

Or bear the weight of another

Downward step

We passed by a lonely mining shack

The miners dressed in yellow rain coats

With lights upon their mining hats

They seemed to dwell there in silence

Of sulfurous steam and cold mist

That felt like the twilight air of death

They watched us with half-curious eyes

Until we disappeared back into the fog

We passed through a nether realm

Neither here nor there

Neither then nor now

By the time we reached the bottom

We could see barely ten feet ahead

And would call to one another

To find our direction

CIRCLES in the DESERT MOON

Radio watch

In the wee morning hours

Waking my relief

By the light of the half-moon

A newbee fresh from boot camp

Slowly walking back up the hill

To my own tank

Laying out upon its flat fender

Ready to get some needed sleep

Waiting to see if my relief will arise

Or if he's fallen back to sleep

In a while he stirs

I see his small silhouette

Moving about

He turns on a flashlight

And begins walking across toward the lieutenant's tank

Then he slowly veers off course

And soon begins walking in big circles

Out across the flat desert expanse

I see the light fall to the ground

As he takes a tumble

I watch him circle round and round

Lost in the darkness of the desert

For at least fifteen minutes

Finally I get back up

And fetch him back to the tank

Without need for the flashlight

My eyes well adjusted to the moonlight

I tell him to turn it off

Not to drain the batteries

That's used for reading maps

Or for fixing things broken on the tank

His little light

To defeat the darkness

Swallowed up by the vast night

Blinding him to the desert moonscape

Lying all around

1994-5

Blanket Copyright, Hugh M. Lewis, © 2005. Use of this text governed by fair use policy--permission to make copies of this text is granted for purposes of research and non-profit instruction only.

Last Updated: 03/15/05