Giving Thanks

 

-------Giving Thanks-------

 

Moving 

in the call 

of my vocation

 

I dig

and I 

plant seeds

 

Like the players who play 

to entertain 

Creator

 

Giving thanks 

with my body 

to the Earth.

 

-------

Purpose

 

-------Purpose-------

 

A thought moved through me

while weeding in the carrots

 

That the work we do in this world

 

On the surface 

above the ground

 

Is in service to something deeper,

 

Underneath, 

that sweetens

 

When its leaves are given room to grow.

 

-------

Upon Me Too

 

-------Upon Me Too-------

 

The righteous 

laughter 

of rain on leaves

 

Awakens joy 

within me

 

A deep down 

kind 

of healing

 

As if the land 

relieved from drought

 

Returns a peace 

upon me 

too.

 

-------

 

Thinning

 

-------Thinning-------

 

It is a positive thing

I feel

 

The process 

that some call thinning

 

For if love is in

the gardeners heart

 

And care 

upon their hands

 

There is no such thing

as taking away

 

Only making 

room

 

For something 

more to grow.

 

-------

 

Scatter

 

-------Scatter-------

 

In the moments I feel 

that I am useless

 

When my mind has got the best of me

 

I find I need 

just walk around

 

Among the grasses as they come to dry

 

With my arms 

relaxed

 

Thumb and forefinger curling

 

Collecting

seeds

 

I scatter

 

And find 

my place again.

 

-------

 

Emerge

 

-------Emerge-------

 

It is joy to see

the green emerge

 

Through tilled, 

uncovered ground

 

Like memories

of Love's persistence

 

Through the conquests

of broken men.

 

-------

Fennel

 

-------Fennel-------

 

Uprooting stilt grass

among 

the fennel

 

In the garden 

of my ancestral dream

 

I give thanks to all 

who have come

before me

 

By tending the land

I now call home.

 

-------

Away

 

-------Away-------

 

On a cool day

in the mid of summer

 

As the breeze makes

the treetops 

sing

 

I imagine my thoughts

are kin to leaves

 

And away

my worries

blow.

 

-------

Meditation

 

-------Meditation-------

 

Shadows move

 

As the wind 

moves

 

Cottonwoods

 

Along 

the river.

 

-------

In Patience

 

-------In Patience-------

 

In patience 

there is a seed

 

With whom

I breath

 

And watch

become a flower.

 

-------

Shadow ii

 

-------Shadow ii-------

 

Dark 

become the woods

 

When the sun grows 

higher and the days

lengthen with heat

 

While in the shadow 

of the leaves

 

Where this cleverness

is most 

received

 

I close

my eyes

 

And giving thanks 

I 

rest.

 

-------

In Rhythm

 

-------In Rhythm-------

 

The sun rises

and I 

unbend

 

Back straight and breathing

 

In rhythm

with the trees.

 

-------

Apple Blossom

 

-------Apple Blossom-------

 

The smell of apple blossoms

and the way they flutter

 

Re-members me 

from out 

despair.

 

Back 

into my body

 

And back 

into love 

with this world.

 

So much there is 

to worry about these days.

 

So many wars

trying 

to take our joy

 

And our attention away

from the magic of this here moment.

 

Yet still, 

the apple blossoms

continue to blossom

 

Offering their petals

to the wind.

 

-------

 

Love Soil

 

-------Love Soil-------

 

A seed of resentment 

can quickly become 

 

A garden 

full 

of weeds

 

If not tended 

with intention 

to cultivate 

 

The love soil 

underneath.

 

-------