Tuesday, 31 October 2017

Skies of October

Soft, warm, early October night
We find ourselves walking
on the trail
by the lake
in the dark.
Stopping to look through the trees
at the still water mirror,
Our eyes are drawn skyward.
And there,
suspended
over the lake
Is the Big Dipper
Low over the water
Monumental and mythic
As if it was about to swing on its giant axis
And scoop water out of the lake.

My imagination soars and
I can see it all taking place
Water splashing
soaring into the sky
in one long arc
Bringing a drink to the sky dwellers
Backwards rain
Replenishment
Nourishment,
Life.

The Big Dipper, Ursa Major to some
Pointing to the North Star on a freedom walk
Hunters, a fisher and more
The pattern becomes the story,
Rich in meaning and history
Both personal and collective
The stars, our first maps
Leading us home.

But then the sky grows bright
As Grandmother Moon in all her fullness
Rises in the East
Calling us.
And we follow her
Back along the dark trail
To our dock
Where her light shines on the waves of the bay.
Mirrored, rippled, dancing light on the lake
We, entranced by her slow elegant journey
Unable to move,
Sit silent,
Mesmerized,
Filling up.

Days later,
just before a mid-October sunset,
A familiar trilling call catches my ear.
Maybe the local crow family making small talk.
But it gets too loud for them.
The sound pulls my eyes to the sky
Searching for magic,
And I find it
in a huge V
of Sandhill Cranes
A hundred or more.
Wide-winged, long legs trailing,
They fly from the West
On their long autumnal journey.
My hearts burst wide open and
Joins in their flight.

Now, late October
A clear, blue, becoming-yellow dawn
Over another lake and
I am on my way to work but
The light calls me to bear witness
And I take my hot tea to the shore.
The warm lake water
Kisses the cold night air
And gives birth to swirls of mist
That dance and twirl over the water
Like women in gauzy white robes
Dancing with abandon
As if no one was watching.
They make their way eastward
In a line on the soft breeze
To the mouth of the bay
As if greeting the sun.
Dancing in sheer delight
For the morning.
And my heart is delighted,
Lightened, warmed, enlivened
With the beauty of the water
And the air and the fire of the sun.

The skies of October
Have nourished me,
Sustained me,
inspired me,
And reminded me of who I am.
That my story is woven with
The stars and the moon and the sun
For my cells emit photons of light.
And the water of the lake and the sky
Is the same water that flows through me.
The cool night air and the warm breezes
Flow into and out of my lungs.
I am a part of all of this
I am home.



No comments:

Post a Comment