Often we look upon the past as golden

remembering the joy we've had like so much sand we're holding

and the tighter our grip

the more we feel it slip

the passion of living drains away

drab by drop by drip

the love and endless hope we've lost

as age creeps up on us with such great cost

still let's give the past its due

just be careful not to let the past live you

and it's just as empty if in the future we're caught,

filled with all varieties of shoulds and oughts,

still never finding the lasting happiness that is sought.

(I need this or that to be happy,

amounts to naught but a lot of crappy)

present experience is where it's at,

to the eternal now we bow and tip our hat.

if there we invest in, and practice freely chosen action,

especially some element of compassion,

we may become free not just to be a door mat,

but to harness the power of "I am That"  

then we may just find the joy we've been dreaming of,

that exists in our hearts and is nurtured through love.

- David Dybdal