Greeting the darkness with light.
Sounds throughout the valley
Include the breeze, a barking dog,
Laughing children next door
And a laughing wife here.
A great emptiness.
“This is the way,” says the lamp,
But the laughter says it better.
The full moon of September.
Crows speak with authority in the chilly morning light.
Flowers awaken and call out to the bees,
“Come taste my pollen
And share with me the pollen
That you gathered from my friends.”
The old barn owl makes one final lap above the field
And then returns to sleep for awhile.
Men in work boots, wearing hats,
Move out into the fields, ready to work.
And me? I watch it all with dreamy eyes.
Summer’s end in the Yolo County farmland.
Autumn begins.
In the sky today I saw clouds like cotton balls
Floating above me.
Sometimes it feels like the valley sky
Is the roof of the world.
The Vaca Hills and the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Are the walls holding this roof up,
And the Sacramento Valley is my room,
The room where I live.
In my room are farms and cities,
Highways and railways, rivers and creeks.
I live with people, owls, herons, raccoons,
Deer, cattle, and house pets.
And still there is plenty of room.
I am not sure how I've got this room,
But I will find the desk clerk
And see that I keep it for a long time.
We are grains of sand
On a beach with no end
And a cold, cold ocean.
Above the pine trees
Big winds
Like time passing.
In the heart of the five-petal rose
Is the truth
You think you deserve.
The winds go on and on
Through the night
Of many stars.
So let me call upon the darkness in prayer.
I pray that people find their compassion every day,
And that we might learn to live without competing.
Compassion comes from the heart
And heals the heart. Both.
And competition? Too many times
No one wins, but everyone loses.
Quickly, before this quarter-moon sets tonight,
Hold up your heart to the light.
Let your compassion grow.
Call upon the darkness in prayer.
____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
Rain again, and again, and again—
My birds watching it through the window
In silence.
—James Lee Jobe
____________________
—Medusa (Celebrate!)
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