when you’re ready
Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.
With the ongoing havoc
the woods this morning is
almost unnaturally still.
Through stalled air, unshadowed
light, a few leaves fall
of their own weight.
The sky
is gray. It begins in mist
almost at the ground
and rises forever. The trees
rise in silence almost
natural, but not quite,
almost eternal, but
not quite.
What more did I
think I wanted? Here is
what has always been.
Here is what will always
be. Even in me,
the Maker of all this
returns in rest, even
to the slightest of His works,
a yellow leaf slowly
falling, and is pleased.
💜
Sabbaths 1999, VII by Wendell Berry
The sky in my rearview
is a huge bowl of rainbow sherbet
the beautiful kind
with raspberry, orange-n-lime
swatches of lemon, indigo and periwinkle
float like barges –
in, out
&
around.
Framing.
Dancing.
Living.
At one point tangerine fills the top of the hilly crest
and head light stars
blaze brilliant against the backdrop
indigo stretched above framing the masterpiece.
At times I find it hard to keep moving forward
into the matte gray of the sky just ahead.
so much loveliness is going on
right behind me
how can I keep heading away from it?
How can I not be a part of this splendor?
Eventually midnight blue seizes its moment of glory,
then night falls over all
and I am left
aching with the beauty,
the majesty,
the extravagant display,
of this wonderful world.
I go to wondering
if this longing for your kiss
will ever be answered?
if my whole life I will wait
for a moment which has already passed,
never to be again under this piece of sky.
always a whisper.
The magic of love,
a thing with wings
hovering over my heart
for years
echoing on into eternity.
💞
AL
life: acoustic & amplified 