Five Miles From Home

Photo No. 11    "Beauty Within"
 part of a photo series documenting all that is beautiful within five miles of my home

Time torn and weather worn, I recently stumbled on a Play House near the roadside.  I imagine within these walls many dreams were birthed once upon a time in the heart of innocence.  I forward into the present moment where many of my dreams have come true & I live in a house much larger than my necessities.  And I dream of building a simple place in forests of present moments; a place dedicated to dreaming visions of innocence & beauty; a place where the dust never settles as life is constantly in motion.

As My Life is a Dream
By Chungmi Kim

I painted a phoenix in bright colors

cut it in nine pieces and cooked it

in a pot at the mountaintop.

I stirred it as if cranking reels of

a movie. Unraveled were a series

of faces in mosaic.

Kurosawa appeared. He asked me

what my story was about.

Tongue-tied, I could not answer.

He handed me a token with a silvery

eagle engraved, ready to fly.

How real I thought everything was

in my dream!

In my waking hour, I see

the remnant of the war between

my head and heart.

Now in cease-fire, my chest is filled

with the fresh breeze of serenity.

I begin to breathe gently as my story

is unraveled like in a movie.

No longer haunted, my love of God soars

as I see my guardian angel smile

in the clear blue sky, transforming to

one gigantic phoenix.

My wandering in the wilderness of

the mind has taught me a little wisdom.

I believe my dreams are real

as my life is a dream.

Chungmi Kim, “As My Life is a Dream” from Glacier Lily. Copyright © 2004 by Chungmi Kim.