Monday, March 27, 2017

The Egret

From the porch
I watch the great white egret
with his tinker-toy legs
wading through the shallows of the inlet.

Always he is alone,
spending his days
in an endless search for food. 

Only at end of day
does he seem to seek 
the company of others
of his species.

White forms perch
on branches near the water.
Are they sharing stories
of the day’s fishing,
or is there a companionable silence?

One might wish  for the life of an egret ...
alone for most of the day,
but gathering with friends
to share our lives
as night falls.


© Peg Latham,  1997

Great White Egret
NPS photo by S. Zenner
from Wikimedia Commons

Monday, March 20, 2017

Liturgy

In nomine

Of the water god speaking
in the stream washing
graveled roots of ferns
with all of our grief

Dominus vobiscum

Seen from within the water
may we be among the god
in the water in the root
in the leaf and wing

Confiteor

Having climbed all this way
made this fire confessed
every failing to the flames
I am still not now changed

Kyrie Eleison

This must be the height
from which angelic beings
gaze lovingly upon us even
as we writhe in our beds

Oremus

And even though we don't know
who this is the words still
pour forth in invocation
supplication contemplation

Verbum Domini

And even though words don't speak
to what this fire sees or what
it changes me into words are all
I have to know the aster's heart

Dominus sit in corde

Crystalline earth energy meets
fountains of blessings pouring
into the rag and bone shop
of the most wounded heart

Munda cor meum

By grace a gate is opened
fears fall away breathing
becomes inspiration separation
vanishes in sweet herb smoke

Gloria tibi

By dint of sitting utterly still
on this stone moved for me
There is nothing to do but
behold the blessed valley

Laus tibi

Having no offering no 
Tobacco I offer only water
until nothing is left up here
but to thank and to praise

Eucharist

Under the leaning granite altar
looming above me an exchange
occurs I feel all my relations
with me the sacred hoop whole

Sanctus

This granite this ridge
these trees budding out a
green haze in the ravine
were never not this holy

Regnum et potestas et gloria

My kingdom for a lawyer
so pitiful is my fire now
whose power is already gone
up in this smoky glory

Pax domine

Finally emptied of all I carried
the time comes to descend
reclaiming the daily bread
remaining silent at the center
Agnus dei

This is no sacrifice in the old way
no livestock given away only
the making holy of every aster,
fern, footstep down the mountain
© Bill Prindle, 2017

Asters
Photo by Tony Russell