Frank Overton Th.M.
NCLMFT, NCLCMHC
Frank Overton Th.M, NCLMFT, NCLCMHC
he/him/his
121 North Churton Street Suite 203
Hillsborough, NC 27278
ph: 919-450-7930
frankove
Yes! No!
By Mary Oliver
(1935 - )
How necessary it is to have opinions! I think the spotted trout
lilies are satisfied, standing a few inches above the earth. I
think serenity is not something you just find in the world,
like a plum tree, holding up its white petals.
The violets, along the river, are opening their blue faces, like
small dark lanterns.
The green mosses, being so many, are as good as brawny.
How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly,
looking at everything and calling out
Yes! No! The
swan, for all his pomp, his robes of grass and petals, wants
only to be allowed to live on the nameless pond. The catbrier
is without fault. The water thrushes, down among the sloppy
rocks, are going crazy with happiness. Imagination is better
than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless
and proper work.
I may be clapping my hands,
but I don't belong to a crowd of clappers.
I'm neither this nor that.
I'm not part of a group that loves flute music,
or one that loves gambling,
or one that loves drinking wine.
Those who live in time,
descended from Adam,
made of earth and water,
I'm not part of that.
Don't listen to what I say,
as though these words came from an inside
and went to an outside.
Your faces are very beautiful,
but they are wooden cages.
You'd better run from me.
My words are fire.
I have nothing to do with being famous,
or making grand judgments,
or feeling full of shame.
I borrow nothing.
I don't want anything from anybody.
I flow through all human beings.
Love is my only companion
When Union happens, my speech
goes inward, toward Shams.
At that meeting,
all the secrets of language
will no longer be secret.
Rumi
Version by Coleman Barks
(from a translation by A.J. Arberry)
"Like This"
Maypop, 1990
"Would You Bow?"
If the Friend rose inside you, would you
bow? Would you wonder where that one
came from and how? If you say, "I will
bow," that's important. If you answer,
"But can I be sure?" it will keep the
meeting from happening, as busy people
rush there and back here murmuring, Now
I know; no, I don't know now. Have you
seen a camel with its eyes covered turn
and walk one way, then turn another?
Be silent and revolve with no will.
Don't raise your hand to ask anything.
Holy one, sitting in the body's well
like Joseph, a rope is there in front
of you. Lift your hand to that! A
blind man has bought you for eighteen
counterfeit coins. Empty metal cups
bang together, and the full moon slides
out of hiding. Make one sound, please!
You are the precious hyacinth that the
sickle will spare, not the wheat plant
Adam ate. I remind you with these poems
to dress in the flower of God's qualities,
not your torn robe of self-accusation.
Rumi- Ghazal (Ode) 2938
Version by Coleman Barks, with Nevit Ergin
"The Glance"
Viking-Penguin, 1999
THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
William Butler Yeats
I and I
Been so long since a strange woman has slept in my bed.
Look how sweet she sleeps, how free must be her dreams.
In another lifetime she must have owned the world, or been faithfully wed
To some righteous king who wrote psalms beside moonlit streams.
I and I
In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Think I'll go out and go for a walk,
Not much happenin' here, nothin' ever does.
Besides, if she wakes up now, she'll just want me to talk
I got nothin' to say, 'specially about whatever was.
I and I
In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Took an untrodden path once, where the swift don't win the race,
It goes to the worthy, who can divide the word of truth.
Took a stranger to teach me, to look into justice's beautiful face
And to see an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
I and I
In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Outside of two men on a train platform there's nobody in sight,
They're waiting for spring to come, smoking down the track.
The world could come to an end tonight, but that's all right.
She should still be there sleepin' when I get back.
I and I
In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Noontime, and I'm still pushin' myself along the road, the darkest part,
Into the narrow lanes, I can't stumble or stay put.
Someone else is speakin' with my mouth, but I'm listening only to my heart.
I've made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot.
I and I
In creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Bob Dylan
The Jar With The Dry Rim
Rumi
The mind is an ocean...and so many worlds
Are rolling there, mysterious, dimly seen!
And our bodies? Our body is a cup, floating
On the ocean; soon it will fill, and sink....
Not even one bubble will show where it went down.
The spirit is so near that you can’t see it!
But reach for it...Don’t be a jar
Full of water, whose rim is always dry.
Don’t be the rider who gallops all night
And never sees the horse that is beneath him.
Frank Overton
Carolina Counseling Center
121 N Churton Street Hillsborough NC 27278
919-450-7930
frankoverton@icloud.com
Copyright 2022 Carolina Counseling Center. All rights reserved.
Frank Overton Th.M, NCLMFT, NCLCMHC
he/him/his
121 North Churton Street Suite 203
Hillsborough, NC 27278
ph: 919-450-7930
frankove