Meditations of the Heart: Poems for a Spiritual Journey

By Jack Zaffos

Th is is an uplifting compilations of poems. Th ese are meditations, statements and chronicles of a spiritual journey. Th is collection is a collection of clear and heartfelt works by the poet with accessible language and relatable themes. It is the poets sincere conviction that spiritual growth and becoming a compassionate human being is a life long process. In the third section , Poems from a Beit Midrash(house of study) , the poet relates this growth process through the lens of the Jewish Spiritual Tradition. Th e themes are universal and are a calling for an increasingly mindful and compassionate world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456757656

Jack Zaffos

Jack Zaffos has been creating poetry since he was18. He is retired from the New York State Office Of Mental Health as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and an Intensive Case Manager. He is the author of Songlines In The Wilderness, and Meditations Of The Heart. He has also appeared in various anthologies. He is the Calendar coordinator for a Long Island Poetry Organization called Performance Poets Association. He is affectionately known as The Calendar Guy. He has won awards from the 2018 and 2019 PPA Haiku Contests. Many of his works can be characterized as Contemplative Poetry.

Book preview

After The Rain

by Jack Zaffos

After the rain,

The moment of quiet.

Of expectation.

Grey clouds separate,

Become lighter,

As the deep blue

Is anticipated.

What happens next?

What does this momentary pause

Lead to?

In a distance,

Dry zephyrs

Can be heard rustling

The green leaves.

The white clouds spread out

And the anticipated blue

Is majestically presented.

Dry zephyrs

Rustle the shrubbery.

And now flower-fruit fragrances

Dance in the air.

After the rain,

A new dance emerges,

To soothe an observing soul.

A November Dusk

By Jack Zaffos

The sun goes down,

Blue wispy cloud layer,

Caresses gently

The November night again.

Perhaps this is a night of becoming.

Like bare trees standing,

Waiting for winter’s entry

I await some kind of event.

A Winter Solstice

By Jack Zaffos

Open fields, frosty air;

The cold night.

Under a roof, under a blanket;

Hibernating for a night.

One night’s escape from the tumult.

Wounded and confused but resting, protected.

Nourished by food, Spirit and Love.

The cold darkness bears a light,

Flickering in the quiet chill.

As the darkness blankets the wetlands,

Fields, shores and ocean.

A fresh salmon dinner does wonders

For the battered body, the weary soul.

The Solstice has come upon us,

Resulting in the dark cold night

As tired souls spark again with an Inner Light.

Cloud Trance

By Jack Zaffos

Dark clouds and storms

Pound the soul.

Rain and wind

Blow and bluster,

As I also meet

The blue sky essence

Beyond the blustering noise of chatter.

I sit, breathe, waiting to enter the stillness,

The quiet essence.

The shelter from the frantic storm.

Turbulence blows the driving rain of thoughts

In high charged desperation,

With what if fantasies worries and frets.

I sit and welcome the stillness

Of the beauty,

Of the peaceful awareness

Calming, receiving in Love.

The clouds break,

The bright blue essence

And the golden light enter through,

Dissipating and calming the storm.

Loud petty tempests yield

To the calm,

To the gentle flows of the breath of peace…Shalom.

Another November Poem

Jack Zaffos

In Silence,

I sit,

The silence needed,

Quiet

Peace

Rejuvenating souls.

There is exquisite beauty

In a gray November Day.

An acquired taste perhaps,

Hearing songs of being

In windswept rustling leaves.

Cycles come and go.

Winds blow

The cold, the gray

The white and the blue.

If we are fortunate,

We can sit with friends,

And sit with Holy Words

And savor hot tea.

December, 1999

By Jack Zaffos 12/12/99

Dancing light.

Vibrant.

Celebration of Blessing.

Washing fountain,

Splashing in Existence.

Vessel of surging Life Force

In rhythm; pulsing,

Dancing in celebration,

Blessed.

Praying electric violins,

Sliding through scales,

Like a laughing child in glee.

Playing, teasing,

Carrying me to joyous places.

Perhaps Holy Places.

Deep Winter

Jack Zaffos

Deep winter begins to

Make its presentation.

Sky blue, clouds of white

Set the stage

As a soul looks on.

Sunlight gently lights the Earth.

At an angle oblique.

Hours later

Darkness will set in.

The cold darkness

That calls for a light.

No deep darkness,

Can extinguish a glowing light.

I have held that faith

From the young days.

It still seems so clear,

Yet this is not faith but fact,

That has connected