Coming close to death

can be transforming.

I stopped fearing death

the instant I recognized

that I am more than

flesh and bone.

My fear of death vanished

the instant I recognized

that I am fashioned from

Spirit and Light.

© 2025 Bruno Talerico

Stafford Challenge day 52/365.

Love does not depend

on anything outside itself,

not even reciprocation.

Surrendering the Self

to experience that 

consummate freedom 

called up by passion

requires courage and humility.

Experiencing the intimate

energy of awakening, 

seeing through

colors of the world

to infinite source,

then, losing that vision,

becoming blind to it,

is cause for great pain.

Longing and grief 

are the other side of love.

Suffer, cry in sorrow

grieve for yourself,

then return.

Allow courage to re-emerge.

surrender, open your eyes,

and remind your Self

that love still exists,

that love persists.

Ecstatic union,

once tasted,

can then disappear,

reappear and

disappear again.

It is not a story of

seeking, then finding forever.

Experience of oneness

is more difficult than that.

Love is present

both in the presence 

and in the absence of

of the beloved.

Desire is the sign

that love exists.

© 2025 Bruno Talerico 

Stafford challenge day 57/365.

Blue curtains

flutter violently.

Cold March winds

reminding that winter

is not quite ready

to say goodbye. 

© 2025 Bruno Talerico 

Stafford challenge day 56/365.

Can you imagine a sane, healthy,

happy human society based only on 

principles of practical wisdom,

affirmed by work, play, and life experiences?

Is it attainable or pure fantasy?

What do I believe?

I believe in the sun, in rock, in clouds.

I believe in blood, eagles, crashing waves,

storms, sunshine, drums, flutes,

coyotes and elk on the run.

Is belief in the supernatural

a product of our imagination,

or are there different kinds of truth—

symbolic, emotional, or experiential?

Is truth absolute, or

is it subjective, shaped by culture

and limited by inaccuracies of perception?

Are cruel truths better than 

comfortable delusions?

I believe in the ancient doctrine of the stars

and timeless wisdom of the mountains.

If I  cannot touch, smell, hear,

taste, kiss or embrace it

then it is only hearsay.

Try to envision a sane,

healthy, thriving society

anchored in the real.

Why is it such an

elusive utopian ideal?

© 2025 Bruno Talerico  

Stafford challenge day 52/365.

like a locomotive,

pushing it’s way 

through the  far end of a tunnel, 

twilight

pushes away the night,

with the promise of a new day.

© 2025 Bruno Talerico

Stafford challenge day 51/365.

 ​

What does life have in store for me?

Distant church bells ring as

rainbow dragons soar

in the glow of the moon.

I want to love and be loved.

I am curious and afraid.

Pretending to understand,

feeling elated;

my heart needs to touch your soul.

Worried you might turn your back on me.

Filled with wonder and doubt,

tears fall

at the thought of never seeing you again.

Like a vast sea, the universe provides,

each crashing wave an opportunity.

I dream of fearlessly flying

without wings.

Yearning, to express my feelings,

I am curious and afraid

will you accept me for who I am?

© 2025 Bruno Talerico

Stafford challenge day 50/365.

Image created with AI.

When i linger

Uncomfortably at the door,

rather than

just walk away,

it is

an expression of Love.

When you

forgot your scarf, then

Quickly returned

to retrieve it,

was that also

an expression of Love?

© 2025 Bruno Talerico 

Stafford challenge day49/365.

Image created with AI.

 

intimate relationships

exist on a broad spectrum.

intimacy can be

fleeting or eternal,

a finite or an infinite game.

in finite form, orgasm is the goal

but who wins?

giver for stimulating or receiver?

either way, with climax achieved,

the game ends.

in infinite form, ongoing pleasure is the goal

partners giving and receiving continuously,

exchanging pleasure in its many forms,

only one of which is orgasm.

the game continues…

© 2025 Bruno Talerico 

Stafford challenge day 48/365.

Vaguely inspired by James P. Carse.

 

They sit,

cross legged

beneath the sacred tree,

mind still as a pond on a windless day,

reflecting

the absurdity of existence.

Others dine on the absurd,

raising glasses of cheap wine,

toasting glorious chaos.

Beneath the surface,

we all are searching

for a touch of truth.

Somewhere we all dance

in psychedelic frenzy, our laughter

echoing through the cosmos.

© 2025 Bruno Talerico 

Stafford challenge day 47/365.

the summit is an illusion,

what matters is effort.

continuous struggle up and up

crest to crest, challenge after challenge 

once attained,

the goal has no meaning.

© 2025 Bruno Talerico  

Stafford challenge day 46/365.

Image created with AI.