Unspeakable beauty,
the snow lies in drifts;
soft blanket cushioning fragile life
humming just beneath the surface.
Quiet contrast:
brilliant blue sky,
tree limbs cradling old nests
and the occasional flock
of chickadees scolding empty feeders
which must look like the mothers
who have abandoned them.
We all tread through scarcity,
lope through abundance as the heads
of crocus pop through the crystals.
How odd both are always present,
yet we respond to Nature in repose
or madly fecund,
as befits our own inner drama.
See the sky?
Unlimited!
How does memory serve
when we juxtapose fear and folly
over such blatant beauty as this?
Aloha, lovely WP community: this poem and photo are from another place and time, my 34 year life on Goose Pond, Maine. This magical lakefront land is still for sale. Share with anyone you think might be interested? Many, many thanks: http://www.bestmainewaterfront.com. <3 Bela
What is truly present
Is forever present.
How to take it all in without grasping by the senses? That was always difficult for me when I practised concentration meditations intensely in my earlier life. I would get frustrated at the tantalising offerings of nature and how the senses would grasp outwardly to take it all in. It is a very subtle thing in truth, and I never previously realised how I was killing nature’s offering by trying to experience it – I thought that was the best way to get the most out of it: be intensely mindful of it, focusing the senses like a laser beam. After many years I learned to relax into a simple non-involvement, and paradoxically, found nature in the process, or perhaps it was the other way around. H <3
I think anything we have to ‘try’ too hard (to do or not, to experience, etc.) is bound to result in frustration. I’ve been a nature sprite since I was small. Earth is a marvelous place to hang out for a few years until it’s all over too soon and back into the continuum we go! Meanwhile, I love observing it all. What a miracle! Aloha, dear. <3
I think being there, paying attention rather than being oblivious is valuable reminder of all we can soak in from the world. Crocuses, lichen, mosd, rocks, sky, water. . .