Dream Life of a Crab

author’s note:

We may be better than we realize.


DREAM LIFE OF A CRAB

As twilight softens the day
crabs emerge from the sand
and walk sideways to meet
sparkling waves sliding up the beach.

While up on the hill
the choir begins
its evening prayer song
under the open pavilion.

I hear a song wave rise—
starting with a dark bass moan
then climbing higher and higher—

the voices strive
until they reach the pure crystal note.

However they can only stay at that peak
for a moment
before falling back down.
They fall all the way back down.

But then after a breath
another wave rises—
rises up from the deeper desire.

A desire I begin to feel within myself
as I listen to the song waves roll out—
those waves spread out—
spread out through the night
until lost
in the complex mix of rushes and sighs
of a monolithic ocean.

With its song, the choir asks
for a blessing
and by asking, blesses all.

Blesses me—
as I walk this borderland
between the earth and sea.

I try to take it all in
but soon I must exhale

and return to being a crab.

A lowly life, yes
but occasionally I’m able
to lift myself up
by returning to this twilight beach
in my imagination.
And then I remember this truth again:

As I crawl sideways—
hobbled and hoping and nervous—
deep within I’m always singing
this grand ocean wave song.

How Can I Live In This World?: poetry book
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© 2026, Michael R. Patton

Raindrops are Pearls

author’s note:

I keep trying to improve my vision.


RAINDROPS ARE PEARLS

When I look at those raindrops
hanging from that branch
I see pearls

because

raindrops seem of little consequence—
here for a moment then gone.

Whereas pearls seem to shine
with a timeless intrinsic value.

I say:
though we enter and live in this world
as raindrops
we never stop being pearls.

Scoff if you want, but
wouldn’t you prefer I see you as a pearl?

I say:
our raindrop life be better
if we always saw each other as pearls.

How Can I Live In This World?: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2026, Michael R. Patton

Forest Church

author’s note:

Maybe church attendance isn’t actually falling.


FOREST CHURCH

I stop
and watch the trees reach for the sky

and then as before
feel the higher desire
hidden in the deepest part of my heart.

Knowing that pain again
I vow to work harder to heal the breach.

Did I go to church today?
Yes, of course, most definitely.

How Can I Live In This World?: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2025, Michael R. Patton

Fable of the Man Who Found the Mystery

author’s note:

I am not the man in this poem.

But we share one thing in common: we both believe in animism.


FABLE OF THE MAN WHO FOUND THE MYSTERY

As a child he owned
a toy car and a ball of string
and not much else.
So by the time he became an adult
he felt he needed
many many things.

And so he worked hard
and felt pretty pleased
when he got all the stuff he wanted.

And yet
all that stuff didn’t seem to be enough.
He began to wonder
if he should now do
as others have sometimes done
after filling their lives with stuff:
seek enlightenment.

“Should I chuck all that stuff
 and go on a spiritual quest?”
 he asked a hip woman
 with wise lines across her face.

She told him:
sit still and go on a journey within—
go deep within
until you feel the mystery

then rise up and go back out
and feel that same mystery all around you.

That unseen unknown ingredient
pervades everything—
everything—
even the air we breathe.

Our hero then did as told
and soon discovered the ineffable mystery
within and without—

a truth he now experiences
every day
because every day
he goes within
then goes back out
sensing the mystery again.

He now feels he’s found
what was missing before.
And the stuff he’s got
no longer seems so empty:
because he now feels the mystery
in all that stuff.  In fact
he feels the mystery
in all the stuff of this world.
And so he now believes
all that stuff has spirit

including the stuff of trees
and mountains and fields and streams—
including the stuff called animals
and among the animals
the stuff called human beings.

Following this belief
the rich guy has now become a rich man.

How Can I Live In This World?: poetry book
dream steps blog
myth steps blog
you tube channel
© 2025, Michael R. Patton