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1987-11-20

Friday, November 20th, 1987 


   An early winter evening with
      motorcycle wind and headlights moving
   through the lights 
      of houses full of warmth.
   I open the door 
      into a darkened room
  and the sound 
     of running feet.
   She is there 
      with the smell of incense
   lighting candles 
      behind the bedroom door.

   She has George Winston's 
   music playing 
   And I feel deeply blessed  
      to see her love, 
   her playfulness, 
      her passion.
   My hands are cold from the dark ride
      and she enfolds me,
   and kisses my neck like the heat 
      from a winter wood stove.
   Such feelings of intimacy fill me.
      And in this moment 
 I am both spirit and flesh; 
   Transient, and yet imperishable.

   This washes over me ... 
   I.   am.   loved.

   So many years, 
      and so many women,
   I've passed through 
      just to gain this vision.
   Just to be able 
      to see how deep 
   her goodness, sincerity,
      and caring, are.
   I tell her this 
      and she laughs at me.

   She says it just takes some of us longer 
      than others to see the obvious.
 
 I can see that these soft experiences 
   of intimate reality are
   so much of what is real 
         and worthy in us.
   And that all the rest 
    are only the moments 
            between these moments.
   But....      but...

   These human moments of ours
      can also pass in darkness. 
   
 In jungles . ..from where gaze
     fearful hidden eyes 
  amid the scream of bullets  
      where women hide babies
 with hands covered by dirt. 
   Places of terror and death.
   And these are ours as well.
        For we are
  both the light 
    and the shadow.

   This world cannot see it's insane.

   But I will remember 
   what is real.
   And I, too, 
   will dim the room and burn incense
   for someone.
      and gather our small love 
  and peace 
   against the storm.

                                    gallagher
                                    20 Nov 87

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

Posted in 1987, AAA - Recommended, Catalyst, Catalyst2, Joan, Poetry Collective, Spiritual | No Comments »

1987-12-16

Wednesday, December 16th, 1987 
            The winter storm finds me
               watching the trees swaying
                  against a gray and moving sky.

            I feel the Buddha's thought,
            if what he experienced
               could be called a thought,
                  as the trees swayed
                  ...continuous, elegant, flowing....

            The raw beauty of it rendered
               on the canvas of no-mind.
            ...being and presence and timelessness...
                  cold and wind, winter and death 
                     and beauty all here....

            I watch them sway like they did
               when the mastodons roamed the north
                  and men wore skins.
            Such a small glimmer of focused awareness are we
               amid the turbulence and tumble of existence.

            Identified with our names
               our jobs, our bodies, our personalities
            and our memories
               we go blind almost all the time.

            Surely, those many centuries ago,
               Buddha watched other trees in a storm
            and felt the same benediction and blessing
               as I am feeling here.
            I know his thought
               and I feel his joy for a moment.

            But he turned and walked away into the rain,
               and chose to advance, openly, towards his death.
            And he gave up every fiction and every pose.
           
            He chose to meet existence in the raw
               and found the roll of God's thunder
            while we sleep
               and barely feel the breeze.

                              gallagher
                              16 dec 87
                              Newport Beach

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

Posted in 1987, AAA - Recommended, Catalyst2, Irvine, Poetry Collective, Spiritual | No Comments »

1989-12-31 – Wedding vows

Sunday, December 31st, 1989

Opening

Just as this marriage will be only what we make of it, so this marriage ceremony is ours to shape and share with you today.

There is ceremony and there are the things of our hearts and both have their places here today.

And so we each want to say a little about what it is we are doing here today because, to us, our marriage is a public affirmation and commitment to that which has grown between us.

And we can think of no one we would rather share these affirmations with than you, our friends.

Guests

Brenda Araya
Mike Bryga
Carl Chapman and Denise
Dave Christensen
Christopher Gallagher
Daniel Gallagher
Kathey Goss
Susan de la Portia
Patricia Webster

– – –

 

Counterpoint

(these were our vows in addition to the pastor’s)

 

Sharon: That in marriage, we will become one in many ways. We will not erase ourselves as individuals, but we will each think of “us” before we think of “I”.

Dennis: That fidelity is a deep truth that has no limits to its domain. It includes thoughts and intents as well as actions. We pledge absolute fidelity to each other.

Sharon: That continuing growth and increasing spirituality are the cornerstones of our joint purpose here.

Dennis: That habits, assumptions, dogma and taking things for granted are all anathema to what we are about.

Sharon: That honesty and self-understanding are among the greatest gifts we can give each other.

Dennis: That we will not obligate or encumber the other in anyway without their knowledge and approval.

Sharon: That we will never interfere with the other’s growth or self-expression.

Dennis: That we are equal and free from all roles and social expectations with respect to our genders.

Sharon: That we shall constantly challenge our own belief systems in the hope of revealing better ones.

Dennis: That while we may not always agree, we will always seek to understand the truth, where ever it lies, as our highest goal. It matters not who is right or wrong on any issue, only that we find understanding.

Sharon: That in all decisions, we will ask, “Is it for the highest good of all concerned?”.

Dennis: That we will keep no secrets from each other or ourselves. Our hearts and minds are and will remain open books to each other.

Sharon: That in joining our knowledge and skills together, we become a whole greater than the sum of our individual parts.

Dennis: That we enter this marriage without reservations or doubts about either ourself or our partner.

– – –

(and then a poem I read aloud about Sharon – she didn’t know I was going to do this)

About Sharon

I never thought I would meet someone like Sharon.
And, even when I imagined a partner for myself,
my vision fell short of the realityI’ve realized she is.

Her intelligence and understanding are
more than a match for my own
and, like you, I can see only parts
of the wonder and complexity she is.

But there is one part of her, that for me,
shines brighter than all the rest
and that is her integrity.

She is like a bell that has been well cast;
she rings truth and clarity and honesty
in everything she does.

For me she is, and has been,
a challenge and a gift of immense proportions.
Her honesty has invited mine and
her clarity has broken through
the dark shadows of my past.

Because of what God has given me in her,
I once again have
the growing clarity and freedom and purpose
necessary to realize my best dreams.

Her truth and integrity in my life
have meant nothing less to me
than my own spiritual rebirth.

Amen.

Dennis
31 Dec 1989

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

Posted in 1989, AAA - Recommended, San Juan Capistrano, Sharon, Spiritual | No Comments »

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