Stand Against Shame

Live in the light

Dream in the darkness

Believe in the right

And, shut out cold starkness

Revel in blind goodness

Repel all that is bad

Always move forward

And, never act sad

Complete what is broken

Don’t change what is whole

Repeat the unspoken

Climb out of your hole

Be friend to all people

Don’t live in the past

Fly down from the steeple

The die is NOT cast

Stand tall in the wind

With your head in the sky

Open ears to the din

Is the best way to fly

Billy Radd

Asheville

The Seed of Artistry

From where does the inspiration of an artist grow?

Some creative seed planted in the forming brain in a mother’s womb?

Does it ride the first morning light peeping through a nursery window?

Is it in the lonely sound of the cold wind of a passing storm,

or the first rain drop to kiss a newborn’s warm face?

Or,

Does it naturally exist in each person’s mind as a condition of being alive,

but is either allowed to wither from disuse or abuse,

discouraged by the constant neglect of others to recognize its existence

or

encouraged with love, attention, opportunity, and conscious nurturing?

Look into the face of an infant.  

Answers lie in the potential of innocence found 

and the eternal opportunity of elders to facilitate emerging art there.

Billy Radd

Asheville

Of Color In Color

Curves around and about

the shapes of colors 

moving in circles 

around the walls 

of my inner space 

bouncing like golden balls 

leaning to and fro 

from the amber glow 

of a soft light

catching a slice 

of dark rainbow

in a bottle

Billy Radd

Asheville

Improving the World

29

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

From Tao Te Ching
by Lao-tzu
From a translation by S. Mitchell

Almost Sometimes

Almost Sometimes

Words like “never” or “always” are traps

into thinking that time is absolute

not like a leaf
floating down to a stream

then riding on the surface

sinking to the bottom

dissolving on its way

to the open sea

Billy Radd
Asheville