Tag: nature

Face Lifted Skyward

barnstormingblog3 Comments

 

               geesesouth
Wind finds the northwest gap, fall comes.
Today, under gray cloud-scud and over gray
Wind-flicker of forest, in perfect formation, wild geese
Head for a land of warm water, the boom, the lead pellet.

Some crumple in air, fall. Some stagger, recover control,
Then take the last glide for a far glint of water. None
Knows what has happened. Now, today, watching
How tirelessly V upon V arrows the season’s logic,

Do I know my own story? At least, they know
When the hour comes for the great wing-beat. Sky-strider,
Star-strider–they rise, and the imperial utterance,
Which cries out for distance, quivers in the wheeling sky.

That much they know, and in their nature know
The path of pathlessness, with all the joy
Of destiny fulfilling its own name.
I have know time and distance, but not why I am here.

Path of logic, path of folly, all
The same–and I stand, my face lifted now skyward,
Hearing the high beat, my arms outstretched in the tingling
Process of transformation, and soon tough legs,

With folded feet, trail in the sounding vacuum of passage,
And my heart is impacted with a fierce impulse
To unwordable utterance–
Toward sunset, at a great height.
~Robert Penn Warren “Heart of Autumn”

I wish I could be as sure as the geese overhead
who trust where they are led
is where they belong.
They may not make it there
but nevertheless go.

I wish I might fly into the setting sun
on a path of pathlessness
knowing only that I am sent
because the call is stronger
than I am.

harrysun

sunset11241

Momentary Pastures

barnstormingblogLeave a comment

sunset9222

sunset9162

sunset11232

when autumn

 flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay – how everything lives, shifting

 from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.
~Mary Oliver

sunset11234

sunset962

To Win the Sky

barnstormingblog4 Comments

pineneedles

moody2

novemberwalnut

The tree is more than first a seed,
then a stem,
then a living trunk,
and then dead timber.
The tree is a slow,
enduring force
straining to win the sky.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands

And so should we be
so much more than mere life cycle:
we are infinite variety
and fascinating diversity,
clothed in finery
yet naked and vulnerable,
we lift burdens in our arms
and harbor the frail,
dig our roots deep
and hold fast,
shade those overcome,
and sing in the breeze.
Most of all
we aim high,
to touch a sky
beyond our grasp.

poplarnovember

treehousenovember

walnutnovember

Crammed With Heaven

barnstormingblog2 Comments

flamingmaplepole

northernlandscape2

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

I feel I am walking on holy ground — in order to open my eyes, I must remove my shoes.
Only then may I approach.  Only then am I aware of what surrounds me.

easternlandscape2

twinlayers

twinsappearing2

The Thin Places

barnstormingblogLeave a comment

sunset10142

sunset10232Heaven and earth are only three feet apart,
but in the thin places that distance is even smaller.
A thin place is where the veil that separates heaven and earth is lifted
and one is able to receive a glimpse of the glory of God.
~Celtic saying

sunset10235

sunrise1023

frontyard

Seeing Past Ordinary

barnstormingblog1 Comment

wwucolor

vinemapleCM2

An open heart is alive to wonder, to the sheer marvel of “isness.”
It is remarkable that the world is,
that we are here,
that we can experience it.
The world is not ordinary.
Indeed, what is remarkable is that
it could ever look ordinary to us.
An open heart knows “radical amazement.”
An open heart and gratitude go together.
We can feel this in our bodies.
In the moments in my life
when I have been most grateful,
I have felt a swelling,
almost a bursting in my chest.
~Marcus Borg from The Heart of Christianity

heart

wwuyellow2

vinemaple

Like a Blessing Vanished

barnstormingblog1 Comment
wwudeer
above the construction zone on the south end of the Western Washington University campus

Empty and filled,
like the curling half-light of morning,
in which everything is still possible and so why not.

Filled and empty,
like the curling half-light of evening,
in which everything now is finished and so why not.

A root seeks water.
Tenderness only breaks open the earth.
This morning, out the window,
the deer stood like a blessing, then vanished.
~Jane Hirschfield from “Standing Deer”

wwudeer2

And think I must fall on my knees
to see them standing there,
Breasting the misty tide,
Sniffing the misty air.
~Charles Norman from “The Deer”

same pair, two months ago
same doe and fawn, two months ago, on the WWU campus

Time Flies

barnstormingblogLeave a comment

hidingout

Time’s fun when you’re having flies.
~Kermit the Frog

Time flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana.
~attributed to Groucho Marx

bananafly

It’s not easy being green unless you also have a dorsal brown stripe and live in a box of ripe Asian pears on the front porch that has become a metropolis of Drosophila (fruit flies).  Then you are in frog heaven with breakfast, lunch and dinner within reach of your tongue any time.

And the Drosophila happily move in to the kitchen any time some pears are brought in.  The apple cider vinegar killing fields I’ve set up on the kitchen counter are capturing dozens daily, but their reproducing outstrips the effectiveness of my coffee filter funnel death trap lures.

This too shall pass.  Time flies and time’s fun –for frogs and flies.

hidingout3

drosophila