A murder of crows
across the sky
in early light,
tide low,
rocks exposed,
sun creeping
through morning clouds.
The great wheel turns
fashioning color and light,
while I join the crows,
breathing silence
into this world
of deliverance.
photograph by Eric Poll
Reading of “Breathing Silence”
So deeply powerful Don, thanks. You always write about nature. I looked up the roots. Surprising:
It comes from Latin nāsci — “to be born.” That same Indo-European root gives us words such as native, natal, innate, nation and nativity. So at its deepest linguistic level, nature isn’t primarily “trees, animals, mountains, the outdoors.” It is closer to: that which is born — and the inherent character of what has been born.
The Latin natura was also used to translate the Greek physis (φύσις), from phyein, “to grow, bring forth, arise.” Physis carried a wonderfully dynamic meaning: the process by which something emerges and becomes what it is.
Which gives nature a rather different resonance from our modern “human beings versus nature” formulation. Etymologically, we aren’t really standing outside nature looking at it. We are something nature has brought forth.
Don — I love the sparse pace & rhythm of this beautiful poem. Especially as you recite it. It magically captures the feeling of early Autumn. Thanks for sharing.
PS: Maybe even our PR bro will be capable of appreciating it? 🙂
You had me from” a murder of crows”. Well done!
The Crow symbolizes the ‘Keeper of Sacred Law and the blending of personal integrity with Universal Truth’. And, whereas historically materialistic human experience has stridently strived to sever true Life from Spirit, I with You, Brother-Man Don (among global multitudes of others), now herald in the dawning of a New Day, when echoes of olden ‘history’ no longer resound amid Spirit’s deliverance of a radiant New World of Worlds born in Us. Steadily Onward, Heart!
The waters of purification are always our friend.
Clouds part ,all comes to remembrance .
The rocky coastline restored as a passing narrative .
A fond farewell on our journey Back.