Poetry by Barbara Harris Whitfield

Poetry by Barbara Harris Whitfield

The Higher Realms

We don t have to
do anything,
Anymore.

All we have to do
Is
Show up!

Meeting the Now
Head On.

And, watch the creations
We manifest
From a Higher order
Than we can understand

But from a perception
That recognizes the flow of
God in Action.

BW, August 5, 2006

God's Voice

How can we hear God’s voice?
How can we stop the chatter long enough?

Maybe we can’t.

Maybe we just need to change the station!
Be more selective in what we choose to hear in our inner life.
Anything written, sung or surmised
About love
Could be God’s voice

Why not?

Love is the action of God.
As soon as I think of God’s voice being Love
A different mood comes over me.

I don’t think in words
I see/feel the faces of the people I love
And, I get closer to understanding more of the Mystery.

BW, August 19, 2005

The Beginning

I sit patiently, now

In my solitude.

Awaiting the dawn

Of my release…

Knowing a death has

Occurred.

Two cautious still

To announce my rebirth.

But starting to sense my need

For lessons in crawling, then walking.

So I may eventually Skip

And Dance

And Live

To my Heart’s Own Content.

Barbara Harris, August 1984. Published in Full Circle: The near-death experience and beyond (Pocket, Simon and Schuster New York 1990.)

Spiritual Awakenings

God has a dream

and the dream comes true

each time one of us awakens

Published in Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near-Death Experience and Other Doorways to Our Soul. By Barbara Harris Whitfield Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield, Bch, FL 1994

Timeless Zone

I’m walking around in this reality

Somewhat confused!

I have resided in more than one

And physical reality puzzles me more

Than the “altered states” I have played in.

Confusions arise here

As beliefs drop away.

All the dichotomies come crashing down

And opposites dance on the same continuum.

Sometimes, not to be recommended—

While going through pain.

But probably the quickest way to go.

To Exist is not to live—

But just “to exist.”

To live, really LIVE—

You have to dive in

And swim around in IT!

When the Doors of perception—

Finally clear,

The awareness of living in the NOW.

Timeless NOW.

So this is what they call “Cosmic Consciousness.”

First it comes in flashes—

Then interludes.

Finally, an understanding of

GRACE.

And what GOD is—

Where I wind up at the end of all my words.

BHW

Ibid.

Good Grief

Stop the World

I need to get off.

Feeling a squeeze

Somewhere in my being.

Stop the world!

And my monkey brain

Chatter!

For all that was

And never will be.

Stop my head

And this thing called

“Logic.”

Get to the right

And “Braille”

This whole thing.

Give up some smiles

And the stress behind

Them.

Alleviate Grief

By jumping in

And being it.

BHW

Ibid.

God’s Will

When all five billion of us

Live life sharing

Unconditional Love,

We may become the

Synergy of God.

We take our conflicting currents and

Turn them into harmony.

We transcend right and wrong,

Yin and Yang, and

Unite our opposites.

We heal the split and

Embrace something new, something

Born from balance.

This is what the mystery of God may be.

It is not an easy task,

But ultimately it is the one we may have been given.

God’s will is our highest human potential.

Shared.

BHW

Ibid.

Let’s Start Here (“How do I write a poem")

How do you write a poem?

You step into the moment.

Clear!!

And grab the feeling

Especially a feeling

That Glows!

From within your depths.

Sometimes, a poem starts

By walking

For miles

Fast.

And all the time…

Experiencing

The freedom of Nature.

The rhythm of my body.

And occasionally, the rhythm of Nature.

Sometimes,

In the shower after—

I linger—

To be with my Self

And close my eyes.

And occasionally—

Witness a vision—

Organizing—

Manifesting

Before me

Of a wonderful Golden Light

Beyond the opening of a Tunnel.

My Tunnel.

My Self!

Or sometimes,

I write a poem.

How do I write a poem?

I step into the moment,

Clear!

And grab the feeling—

Especially a feeling

That Glows!

From within my

Depths.

And then listen

To “Self.”

It’s there—

The Glow.

Or sometimes, the pain

Whatever.

The first word you hear

Or feel or sense—

Is a Key

That becomes a sentence

And another.

When the sentences stop coming—

Read what was said…

And more comes.

And somewhere

In the first five lines

Or so,

There is a “Click,”

As though an electron

Jumped an orbit

In ALL your atoms.

And you are in this moment

In a very special way.

Each moment is spent

In the Present Moment.

In slow motion.

In Active meditation.

In reverie.

When I feel like I’m stuck,

I realize that the poem

Is finished.

The hardest part

Is to give “It” a name

After.

I usually have No Purpose

Or plan laid out so—

I don’t know what the poem

Will be

Until after when

I read it.

“Self” writes the poem.

“I” gives it a name.

(And sometimes negotiates.)

And all learn.

Then, a REAL feeling

Of Euphoria.

A high peak.

Intellectual… Emotional.

And Spiritual.

A rush of endorphins.

A celebration.

And then you land…

And smile a lot.

Published in The Journal of Religion and Psychical Research June, 1985

Here – But Not

Here in the Now.

Present at all times.

Trying not to be tardy,

But noticing

A definite feeling

Of no longer

Fitting

In the same way!

Trying to adjust the focus

So each point

Could seem clear.

Tripping each time on the thrust.

Refusing to compare.

No judgments either.

Giving up on total understanding.

But always aware!

Looking in

From the outside

Through a window of connections.

And the saving Grace:

Seeing as a small child again.

The absence of good and bad

So the child can keep her freshness

To the Hear and Now.

Beliefs

What to believe?

What not to believe?

So many ways to go!

So many moments of conflict.

Moments can be lifetimes, too.

I used to turn my back on faith

And cling to beliefs,

For security’s sake.

There was no conflict then,

Only clinging.

Existing to cling

And clinging to exist.

And then I remembered

What love feels like.

And faith whispered

Gently and tenderly

In my dulled ears.

I tried to hear

Over the roar

Of my noisy mind.

I battled all the chatter

To get closer to the Sender.

Sometimes getting so close

It was hard to find my way

Back here.

Where I need to be.

But where?

To be?

The chatter is confusing.

The faith so soft and calm.

The chatter so explicit,

In fifty directions.

The faith so vague.

I will give up my beliefs

And strain to hear and feel

And see.

Be kind to the chatter

So it will settle down

And joyously, tenderly

Dance to a whispered

Melody of love and life.