Can I see it or feel it?
Above simplicity?
I walk to the river
The part of the world opens
Other walkers walk alone
Or with their dogs or with other walkers
Nature greets us in songs and colorful displays
Do we need measurements
And ask : Will experience be sublime?
Accumulation of solitudes, tumult of the heart diminishes
until it’s just a whisper, light as a leaf
You have been longing
to know your real self
During your walk
or when alone in the river
You feel your deep affinity with nature
with other creatures
Alone with the blue heron
or with other traveler
Pandemic awakens your consciousness,
shakens by injustice.
Beware when all the running stops
numbness sets in and silence.
Out of weariness and withered trees
love will rise.
We are sheltered in for more than 2 months now. There are changes that everyone has noticed before: air is cleaner, less cars driving in the neighborhood, in the highways, the hills and mountains can be seen clearly. The world is new again.
But uncertainties remain. Vulnerability exposed. Maybe the same “vulnerability that songbirds feel every single day of their lives” as noted by Robin Wall Kimmerer., author of Braiding Sweetgarss.
Time is time. Not timeless.The pandemic reminds us of our impermanence.
There are now easings of restrictions. Our yearning for open space is more urgent. Will human touch be a strange feeling?
Tomorrow we hope to be curious again. Or maybe for the first time.
Tomorrow when I go out of the door I will be seeing a new world. One says, “ every beginning is monumental.” I will try to believe it.
note: 2 weeks ago I was hospitalized for 4 days. I was very sick with an infection. Not cobid-19. I was negative.
I am home now and recovering favorably. I hope to resume walking to the river again everyday.
The book currently I’m reading or should I say I am listening at is Brading Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
In life is not easy to calculate our losses
Or emphasize our gains
There are disguises that betray us
Our vision is not always sharp to distinguish differences
Today like most days
I walk to the river
Others have similar ideas
I encounter a blue heron,
A lone bird resting on the reeds
And red flowers radiant in the sun.
The Place
The surprise of hearing my own voice
like seeing slivers of light filtered between the trees
The words are whispered which I could have missed
Words of encouragement, a push
My eyes are closed, my attention sharpened
I am resting a bit after walking long
My breathing is trying to catch up with my steps
In trying to reach my goal I struggle
There are benches, handrails, sources of spring water
I am vulnerable but not feeble.
I am not alone, or helpless
Though night is approaching I am not lost.
Is it the wind or spirit descends from above the trees
A voice telling me a place in eternity
The place where I am going.
Disturbed by nearness
The blue heron flies away
The child, surprised, cries
Sunny and 57 degrees yesterday afternoon. I walked to the river. Met other walkers. Watched the clouds and birds. Just like today.
Listen to the birds and encounter beauty of the day
Spread your gratitude with the sun
Express yourself:
“love of Christ must come before all else.”
A lemur can jump 25 feet
Imagine the social distance
In time like today
A mother and child
foraging for mushrooms and ferns
A hanging orchid
A mountain stream
flows crystal clear, and so cold
deer is shivering
Seven blackbirds perch
on a young sycamore tree
boy counts his fingers
Undeterred they rowed
The whole Atlantic Ocean
Off the wall they said
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