The past lies sleeping
in the quiet earth
as day unfurls
on a still sea.
To the evergreen
and juniper
the future will be,
without troubling
the moment.

I find my place
in the green world,
sentient and conscious
of what I bring
to the chapel
of the pure heart,
holding service
in the bright light
of morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading of “Holding Service” with music by Alisa Jones

 

 

14 Responses

  1. Thanks, Don — I’m right with you. After some medical surprises in our household last week, it seems to me that simply being able to hold service wherever we happen to be is all that’s required.

  2. Thank you Don. I definitely like what you are creating with your many gifts.

  3. Thank you from me also! I realise that had I not met you and others I may not have been able to understand your poem, or I would hear it from another level of awareness. I’m grateful that I know the experience your poem captures so well, and I’m glad to read your poetry each Sunday!

  4. Don, I can think of someone who will never have any concept of the chapel of the pure heart. You’re good to keep hoping.

  5. Lovely, Don – grounding and sweet. And the photo is gorgeous, with the echo of the shape between sea and sky, above and below.

  6. Don—it is a little known secret that the unbroken Ceremony of Service in this blue-green earth keeps my world centered and spinning round a central sun and, joined with others, around a sun of suns—without which it all goes awry and there is no bright light of morning by which to read aloud this poem in service, in thanksgiving to you, and through you now to All.

  7. I don’t agree with Marco; I think the term “service” is in wide use and works well as a symbol of the holy moment of addressing the numinous. When I first read it with my own voice in my head, I stumbled over:
    the future will be
    without troubling
    the moment,

    Then I remembered to read it with your voice and your emphasis on the phrase, and it popped into focus. I am working on a poetry/photo project, and your steady work is inspiring me to stay the course.
    Thank you!

  8. Don, thank you for conveying our sacred connection with mother earth. The latest Sierra Club magazine has an article and pictures of the oldest trees on earth, I feel a deep connection to their presence….

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