Soon We’ll Cross

Bent over in spring rain the hill is steep, climbing from river to promontory rock. Bowed but not broken I keep inside my coat, one foot in front of the other, absorbed by difficulty, treading on memories and lost hope but continuing. On the wind blown top the trees grow thick, low to the ground […]

To Seek the Shining Face

Fishermen troll along the shore, lines down in a cleft below the sea where otters swim sleek and mercurial. Seals bob along, slow and patient as I sit above the tide watching, thinking of Jupiter’s fiery light and the night song of trees. Daylight is too rational, too stamped by time to go below and […]

Place at the Table

I disturbed the geese apart from their flock, standing in purple camas, complaining in goose talk. With the geese gone, alone now except for swifts and the calm water of slack tide, the first breeze with the sun lightly stroking the water as the green world rises in the fullness of spring. I’m guest at […]

Morning Breeze

You don’t have to correct the world nor the billions of people. The stars were placed long ago, the weary moon constant in its track. You just may have to let go and give yourself to the soft morning breeze with its gentle hint of rain.                   […]

To Join the Living

Spring is rising as mountain snows melt, seeking out what lingers of melancholia and fear stored in winter dark. We launch into the river, skirting between freighters, under steel web bridges, finding our pace in the wind driven chop. Time to come out and feel the urge of falling water, the hot touch of sun, […]

Beyond the Door

Cleansed of stress and ill feeling, root fed and purged, I relish the inner space, the sympathy with what rises. Deep green has touched the earth though cold winds stir the sea and spring waits while the ancient balance holds the churning wave, the tall swaying trees. Letting go I am found, emptied out I […]

Steady Voice

The winds are up from the south pushing white caps over gray water, a Pacific storm reaching over the Olympics and Vancouver Island to the inland sea. Most of the shorebirds are hunkered down, Canada geese tucked into lee cover, otter laying low in thorn lined bowers. There’s excitement on the wind, as if the […]

To Pillar the Deep

Before the altar of morning, with the rise of spring in grey cloud rain, the soul rests in silence, steady and full as the sea. The long arc of history compressed to a tremor passes through bedrock, yearning for the unmoved. To pillar the deep, strengthen the stillness, heart and mind become quiet as leaf, […]

Into the Garden

The songs I sing to keen budding branches filled with winter and darkness of root, I silently sing them, the trees only hear me as they ready to open in cold March air. From out of the earth-tomb the beauty of color, feast for the sky gods and we in our task to break the […]

Melody of the Stranger

Just this morning, with the sky full of rain, I turn to the edge of light in the far distance. Cranky as a crow I open like a spring bulb, and go where I have not gone for many years – to the rim of a canyon, the edge of a waterfall, where the earth […]

Born through the Plum Tree

Wisdom beneath the earth born through the flowering tree in the soft color of life, bearing the burden of snow as it rises with spring’s urge, hungry for the light.                    

No Telling

No telling what will appear when the wide arc of earth slowly turns to meet the sun. A muddy tangle of clawing vines, the sweeping bend of a broad river or the flow of peace from one darkened window waiting with thanks for the coming light.                   […]

Dare to Appear

My eyes so full of plum trees and their pale pink beauty, the weight of gravity seems to fall away. Rooted to the ground old branches swell losing their dark comfort, daring to appear in the gray March sky. Each flower born from the earth’s deep knowledge, unveiled and risen in the warmth of first […]

Winter Hymn

Rains and settling dark softly soak the city. In the mountains forests rest white and undisturbed. Snow laden trees, streets washed clean, the timeless hymnal open to the sky in the deep throated song of winter.                    

Myrtle Tree

Smoke rises into clear skies, the morning cool and bright. Yesterday’s weight drops like a long heavy train uncoupled from the engine of desire. Thankful for the deeper healing, I rise from dark rooted soil wet with winter’s love, to greet this day, open like a myrtle tree in spring.           […]