Thawing the Hardness
Ice forms at night, and the old fear rises, memory of dark and bitter cold, feeling not death but survival, and all we did to stay alive when life was only suffering; men and women like iron, the only sound wind and bitter voices. Dawn spreads now from the east come to replace the shadows, […]
Fullness of Desire
To learn, the earth takes a slow, steady ponder, listening to the sounds and silences, especially the silences, paying homage with attention until something dark and unseen breaks into awareness, bursting like a mushroom with the full throat of desire.
Dark Along the Root
With sky clear and cold the park populates again – lovers side by side, infants in their strollers, the face of an elderly man alight with recognition. Rain kept them away, soaking the fallen leaves and thankful soil, dropping us into origin, the mystery within the earth our fingers will not grasp; dark along the […]
New Year
This day of January sun, light, cloud and wind tugging at the last oak leaves, stubborn like my soul with gathered treasure. Afraid to let go to the horizon, changing with the rhythm unseen as it moves through the tall trees, calling me into tomorrow.
Signal from Above
I touch the Earth through trees waving in westerly winds, clouds full of ocean blanketing the valley An island of the palest blue in the dark gray cover becomes a signal from above to look beyond the overcast, feet on the ground, shot through with heaven.
Christmas Story
Cold winds blow in December, fire flickering in the chimney draft as I rethread the story I tell myself about this world and how I am to walk in it. The story to be rewoven each year with faith in the new babe taking form, unseen yet dimly felt, stirring with the strength of earth, […]
Solstice
Rain cleanses the morning with clouds from the Pacific riding the vast arc of ocean wind, falling upon the earth to the root of our faith, soaking deep the dark womb of renewal.
You and the Earth
Her love rose and spilled across her cheeks, witnessing the young seeker in the mirror of her journey, her elder wisdom opening with tears for her caring spirit. Knowing she must be alone after all, she and the earth in the long dark silence, the light of her inner lamp flickering, fragile, determined to continue. […]
Sirius Calling
Sirius visited last night, trailing Pleiades and Orion, awakening me to the sacred manuscript etched in darkness, of Earth alive, moving into the depths of God’s imagination.
Storing Vision
Sun casts the sea in silver, low slanted light skimming off the water, gleaming like vast ornamental plates beset with wooded islands, more fallen from heaven than raised by the sea. I am watching, gathering images like late apples, storing vision for winter nights.
Sound of Night
The air grows still with silent pressure, urging the weight of discovery; the inner ear trembled by the sound of night. Everything dark, suggestive of hidden life poised to emerge; frightening yes, but who we are beneath the noise and uncertainty.
Creation Song
Driving through the rough-hewn gate past the carved wooden sign and down the gravel lane, I found the broad russet hay field lifted into autumn maple or perhaps rising up to greet me like an old friend. Every tree and trembling fern had a voice in the slanted sunlight, the rubbed bronze earth reaching out […]
On Saturday Shoulders
The rain came softly in velvety mist, falling on the wet turf and our Saturday shoulders as we watched the match. One grandson streaking forward, another beside me, enjoying the gray clouds and steady blanket of moisture. No umbrella or parka for him, where home feels like rain and the way we stand together, heads […]
Take Heart
The season is turning with the aroma of fall; the earth exhales, the scent of leaves and open ground fill the air with her essence. The thud of boots and grinding wheels obscure the delicacy of her rising, yet even the timid take heart in autumn, letting go like trees in the wind.
Twelve
The hat drops over his ears, bill straight, uncurved, a slight angle to the side though not yet the full teen rake. He’s turning twelve this year, in first year of middle school, the growing strangeness of encyclopedic social rules, protocols ever changing in the hormonal entry zone charged like summer lightning. I stumble along […]