Thoughts Have Hands

What keeps us going?

A striving for gold,

To buy a bit of heaven,

never enough,

The panting for a lover’s embrace,

And the worry if she’s there for you,

Pull her close, fly blind

while you have time.

Symptoms of love,

the heart always ponders,

A willing practice in forgiving.

A warm diagnosis with no misgivings,

A rare and perfect find.

Or look to purpose to

occupy a healthy mind,

One to hold your place,

One promising direction

One dwelling place for prospecting.

Go after family and friends

Make a world with them.

Be ready to make amends.

Try to keep your wants to a minimum.

Look for what persists in spite of philandering,

For paths you travel depend

on reckoning with mystic impressions,

Childhood wishes,

and half forgotten dreams

Under cover of many developing schemes.

No path is laid out

No perfect grid meets your feet

Go strike out for a sunlit horizon

But know foreign lands hold

shadows for each expedition,

Dead ends,

Unmade beds and unmet needs,

Plans left undone,

as you move on.

Demands dangle over head,

Linger as warnings to your mind

And most should be ignored,

For success will come only if you keep going,

But never will you be free to explore

until you learn contentment

And let yourself be.

THH

5/11/24

Winds of change

stoke hidden fires

Buried in the underbrush of chore and secret misgivings.

Smoke ascends slowly at first,

Unnoticed in the midst of the grand race we run.

The curlicues drift high into the limbs,

Threaten stands of innocent forest,

Or drift across planted plains

of life-giving grain,

Suckled by the air into red hot flame.

Like troops of wild monkeys racing from branch to branch,

searing leaf and limb,

Condemning to dust hope

and the claims of history.

Old and young overcome by flames,

Topple to the ground,

Soot and ash spread across earth’s fertile mantle, a charred bed of dreams,

Ruins offered for an archaeology of power and destruction.

Humans in the heat of desire,

Fired by vainglory,

Plan heroic contests unending,

Each new birth fans upstart passions.

No time for reflection,

too quickly we burn in mad pursuit

through seasons of labor,

Action and reaction.

Fire and flame

Consume everything on its march,

In glory and greed,

In searing deed,

Until burned out.

Left to cool under dark skies,

Smoldering emotions long to be rekindled,

But the light has died,

Destiny of desire is spent,

and left on fields of battle.

The ash remains,

Blackening the survivors anxious brow;

Only ritual forces some depth of recognition,

begging understanding from darkness, to make of sacrifice a hallowed loss.

For ashes crushed, crossed and brushed away by time, or with luck by neighbor or friend

Bring tears with a human touch —

And the fiery moments too easily recalled and so misspent.

Suddenly life’s put on hold.

Causes believed in, lost or forgotten,

Leaves one to ponder, how to begin again?

A monk once inquired of Abba Joseph how to progress to sainthood;

The old man stood at his cell door,

raised his hands skyward,

And said,

‘If you will, you can become all flame’.

But what, then would any of us be ?

THH 3/15/24

Time plays a master game with us.

It spins the past tight then lose,

Tangles us in weaves of woolly memory,

Spurs wild boasts and creativity;

It affords many bright horizons

Travelers imagine can be achieved.

Time offers drama and humor for hungry minds to engage,

Begs us explore the twists of fortune and fate.

The master game has subtle moves,

forward and back, of memories soured

By business unfinished,

And actors wishing things had gone better,

To dreams dreamt in technicolor,

Caught in heady desire, longing for

A soldier’s return,

A lover’s win,

A gambler’s all in,

Expecting to live out the narrative.

A mortal fantasy fleshed out,

real and sweet,

A happy reverie.

A master game designed for eternity,

advertising little pleasures,

And rewards to be received,

While guarding the undisclosed truth, How travel comes to an end.

THH

2/13/24

We know so little.
We know so much.
The difference an attitude,
hanging on green beliefs,
known to be so very true.

A string of possibilities unwound by disappointing data will not deter.

A speech delivered fervently shores up feeling.
As myths inscribe our heart with right meaning.

A world where comfort seeks an easy ride,
A cave and warm fire to today’s three bedrooms, two baths with a view.

A store-bought bride taken home to watch the internet.

A pride of place and time.

Beliefs festooned with finery dressed in expectation of success.

Beliefs disappointed if unrealized

Metastasize to become favorite melodies sung over the wreckage of loss,

Shattered identities frolic with idols of riches and desire,
Become frenzied vibrations and hollow chance,
Before sacrificial lambs are brought before our fearful chant.

All certainty alludes the honest mind,
For no one understands the play of circumstance.

But dishonesty takes charge of humanity if swayed by glamor and the promise of winning

Then destiny becomes a wishing well
Where humility stands unanswered,

To wait for the genesis of a better humanity,
while pride continues its rape of reason,

And with self protective aims, proclaims violence just;

Of this we know much in every season.

THH
1/31/24

Choose a mood to replicate

Set a fitting decor

Play the music to lift the audience

Come sit and eat

Come to drink

Settle in

Secure and comfortable in a manufactured space.

Order in,

Coffee warm,

Take a moment to drink it in.

Watch people make friends,

Build connections,

Find direction,

Hug a friend.

Look out the window

as a lone bare tree sways

back and forth in the winter wind,

Wonder how you fit in?

Then mind relaxed,

Dwell in the moment satisfied,

Forget your hunger for awhile,

Bask in the refuge

purchased for a price.

For here and now you take respite,

Drop your cares and

Rest your wants.

THH

1/9/24

open.substack.com/pub/tomhardin

open.substack.com/pub/tomhardin

Holiday cheer wears thin when living with family settles in

It begins with grins and hugs and remembrances

Stories told then retold

and then living together begins

You notice habits and remember certain patterns from long ago,

Watch as they set in once again.

The way the refrigerator door opens,

The way silverware finds its way to strange draws,

The patter of feet across the floor at odd hours,

The way they move in, require exceptions and

Bend the way things have always been.

The programs they watch

from which you can’t looks away

The interests displayed in shopping

as if clothes and makeup are new to them

The making of room for asking

The inconvenience and the accommodation.

The adjustments to routine cries out in frustration,

Asking if normal will ever be normal again

It is then you see your true face

And then

know the love you have for them,

the care you offer them despite the costs:

The loss of comfort,

The sacrifice made in the shell you’re inhabiting.

Then you know the deep care required to love them.

THH

1/2/24

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Body beautiful

Body lean

Mind determined to fight the good fight,

Muscles taut and toned,

Ready to wow the boys tonight.

She lived this way.

Then one night,

After a grueling routine,

Her lover said,

Be on your way.

Set back she waved goodbye

She soldiered on

in her same disciplined manner,

kept her schedule day to day,

Every afternoon,

Running,

Biking,

Pushing through one

Marathon then

another.

Surely someone will notice the results

on display,

And the effort to make her body right.

Then after years of heavy workouts,

She met this guy one Saturday night,

who with a gentle smile

And twinkle in his eye

Asked her why?

Why work this hard,

Why so desperate, so uptight,

Are you really happy being exhausted Each and every night?

Suddenly came on the light

And she turned with delight

Decided to enjoy her one life,

To eat and play around, have some fun And not exercise so strenuously for a time.

Her friend became her partner that day,

And her face filled with happy smiles.

May she never again run so hard.

And may we learn:

The burn that keeps a body

flexible and trim,

Signals no guarantee of a happy end,

Or of finding the perfect friend.

THH

5/28/23

Holiday cheer wears thin when living with family settles in

It begins with grins and hugs and remembrances

Stories told then retold

and then living together begins

You notice habits and remember certain patterns from long ago,

Watch as they set in once again.

The way the refrigerator door opens,

The way silverware finds its way to strange draws,

The patter of feet across the floor at odd hours,

The way they move in, require exceptions and

Bend the way things have always been.

The programs they watch

from which you can’t looks away

The interests displayed in shopping

as if clothes and makeup are new to them

The making of room for asking

The inconvenience and the accommodation.

The adjustments to routine cries out in frustration,

Asking if normal will ever be normal again

It is then you see your true face

And then

know the love you have for them,

the care you offer them despite the costs:

The loss of comfort,

The sacrifice made in the shell you’re inhabiting.

Then you know the deep care required to love them.

THH

1/2/24