“To be filled of vitality with love is to be immersed in thoughts, feelings, and actions of love in every circumstance and situation that life has to present.” (Frederick Manuel Moreira, #93 from his journal)

We cannot know such attention
Frederick pays to the tip of the finger

faith-ing its synaptic path through
the overgrown yard of his abandoned house,

its alphabet of shattered windows, disconnected
circuits, Frederick’s Dead Sea Scroll of a cellphone

keyboard, his hard-lived life sermon
inscribed on tablets of stone.

“Feed thoughts of love to starve thoughts of hate.”
(Frederick, #4)

Your long life before you, No Fear!
your tattooed mantra, wouldn’t you

surely pose on the rocky outcrop,
arms lifted like the hawk’s wings

compelling as the endless sky,
and for the timid onlookers,

dive headlong into the dark waters,
their surprise shallows,

the submerged rock on which you break,
to live now in stillness like the tree

you paid no mind planted beside
the waters, this tree of “great beauty.”
(Frederick, #56)

“Be still and stay aware of what is in front
of us and around us. Put the mind to rest
by consciously focusing on the breath;
redirect focus to the breath.”
(Frederick, #58 and #59)

How many nights and days
would be demanded to breathe, to live,

“live in faith of wellness, not in fear
of illness” (Frederick, #57),

this body you no longer require,
your mind impelling your hands

to tap the levers driving you in the
motorized chair, your fighter-jet cockpit,

your top-gun savvy grin now the smile
of gratitude, a beauty trained to look for.

“Gratitude is a relative of love.
Beauty resides within all things;
look for beauty and it is beauty
that will be found.”
(Frederick, #88 and #14)

At City Light Community Ministries,
the meal offered to all–

the lowly, the oppressed, destitute,
the gentle, those sad, those in need

of mercy, those seeking peace,
gather at Frederick’s table

to bless and be blessed, placing
their hands on this friend,

his touch the healing
they pray to receive, believe.

“Do not focus on fear and doubt;
focus on courage and faith.
As the surface of water casts
the reflection of the tree,
so the life casts the reflection
of the mind.”
(Frederick, #21 and #24)