Welcome, traveler! Enter and take your rest...

A chaikhana is a teahouse along the legendary Silk Road pilgrimage and trading route linking China to the Middle East and Europe. It is a place of rest along the journey, a place to shake off the dust of the road, to sip tea, and to gather together to sing songs of the Divine...


Once More Turn Me to Gold

by Dorothy Walters
 

(for Kabir)

Every cell,
each bone and covering.
Let me shine
like a golden coin
spinning in the summer sun,
a yellow leaf
that falls to earth
in early autumn, late spring.
Let me be a beacon for all
yearning to pass this way,
to become pure,
like the alchemist's dream,
the cabalist's desire.
Let me be dipped
in liquid gold,
now luminous,
radiant as the sun,
complete at last.

-- from The Goddess Speaks: Poems of Ecstasy and Transformation, by Dorothy Walters

/ Image by Chu Son /

View All Poems by Dorothy Walters


I have been thinking about Dorothy Walters recently. She was a close friend for many years. We met initially through our parallel work, both of us in different ways being early explorers of poetry and spirituality on the Internet. She published a blog of her poetry and Kundalini experiences while, at the same time, quietly connecting one-on-one with those who reached out to her, seeking to better understand their own private spiritual experiences. She soon came across my work with the Poetry Chaikhana and emailed me, beginning a correspondence.

At the time, she lived in San Francisco, but she had strong ties to Boulder, Colorado, where I lived. She had been a professor at the University of Colorado for many years before retirement, and she decided to return to the area. This serendipitous move allowed us to become closer friends.

My wife and I would regularly meet Dorothy on a Sunday morning and go out to brunch together. We had wonderful, far ranging conversations that returned again and again to the spiritual journey, seasoned with plenty of laughter. It was always a treat to meet with this sweet, elderly woman who often wore a knitted cap, eyeglasses with Chinese characters engraved around the rims, and draped herself in wild colors.

I wonder how many people in Boulder knew what a treasure they had shuffling around the downtown, occasionally popping into discussions on lucid dreaming or poetry readings.

In her final years, a wonderful, dedicated group of people worked together to make sure that her few basic necessities and health care were taken care of. She passed away in 2023, well into her nineties.

For many, she was seen as a spiritual teacher. There were times when I saw her that way too, but more as an inspiration, a template of how to be an elder in the world -- quiet, yet active, unconventional, playful, caring, engaged, always touching people's lives for the better. As I begin to enter my elder years, I hope to embody my own version of those uplifting energies she brought to those around her.

Mostly, however, I thought of Dorothy Walters as a friend, a friend who still sometimes shows up to whisper in my ear.


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/ Photo by Maria Hossmar /

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