Monday, June 28, 2010

goddess #44


it's peaceful here at world's end
despite images of ships sailing over the edge into terra incognita
despite the echo of Eliot's "not with a bang but a whimper"
and the sudden vision of black, thick, gooey water snuffing out life.
an ancient oak patiently engulfs a stoney outcrop,
cries of children and running feet break the silence and fade away,
a myriad of tiny creature deconstruct a fallen branch, returning it to the earth.
all this is true
here at the end of the world
all this, and everything else in this moment -- in every moment.


Monday, June 21, 2010

goddess #43


another goddess lived near here
before the winter
before the rains and the ice and the snow
watching as the leaves turned brilliant, then fell
watching as branches became ink strokes brushed across cold winter sky,
watching as they softened into red, then green then burst into leaf.
and now, as spring turns into summer
she is gone
disappeared without a trace
only memories remain
and the sound of the water 
and birds conversing in the trees.

may we cherish what is and know it is forever transforming.


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

goddess #42


my path today
took me along one i walked quite often
some twenty years ago
in a different body
less saggy and wrinkled . . . 
but still i delight in the call of a robin
and the soft curve of a chipmunk disappearing under a log,
in ducks and ducklings gliding past yellow pond lillies.
alive with sound there is silence,
amidst constant movement, stillness
in this green leafy refuge.
 
may we all know we are gloriously alive in each and every moment



Monday, June 7, 2010

goddess #41


within sight of two windmills
birds sing
crickets chirp
and geese swim in stately rows.

no gobs of oil lurk in these glistening waters.
yet all the seas are one sea
and just last week the smoke of fires hundreds of miles north dimmed our skies.
oh, what will we do with our one precious world.

(with thanks to Mary Oliver)


may we know that the earth is our body, the waters our blood, and the air our very life.