A Believer's Journal

(After watching two adults and a child walking down the spit of sand off the Deer Isle Causeway exposed by the receding tide)

Take my hand
as we walk the sandy strand
left behind by ebbing tide
tickling toes with mussel shells
while licking the salt off our lips
wholly enveloped in the unspeakable wonder
of this holy moment

Take my hand
as we stand transfixed
beneath the moonless sky
silently counting the countless stars
while casting our spirits into the night
utterly gobsmacked by the trackless void
of an overwhelming emptiness

Take my hand
as we sit enraptured
attent the twirling dancer
improbably poised on pointed toe
her hand making heart-rending entreaty
transported therewith to a rapturous haven
of ineffable grace

Take my hand
as we come to the table
praying our thanks and desires
bearing the burden of unabated dismay
over multiplied evils and calumnies
holding fast to the solitary hope
of an unwavering faith

Take my hand
as I lie in my bed
shadows slowly subsuming
remembering an awe-filled existence
all of it vouchsafed to you
wanting nothing now but the touch
of your tender hand

O Cassandra, Cassandra
You speak only the truth
But no one believes you
Preferring instead the
Balm of our ignorance

Unheeding your warnings
Only sycophants esteeming
We turn a blind eye while
Clinging to the lie
That flatters

The sky is falling the
Little chicken said
But what if it were true
Falling sky
Rising ocean

We paint our prophets as
Little chickens whose
Strident squawking so
Rudely intrudes on
Contented lives

Our soothsayers we judge as
Silly women spouting
Nonsense while good sense
Cries out as if in the wilderness
Unheard

O Cassandra, Cassandra
You speak only the truth
But no one believes you
Preferring instead the
Balm of our ignorance

cloud roiled sky
turquoise ocean
a trio of cormorants
silhouetted against the horizon

proud heads raised
on bent black necks
serenely surveying
their watery kingdom

inscrutable imperturbable
standing tall on rugged rock
their pose not fleeting
but a cipher of eternity

fugere
fleeing running
helter skelter
away away
no intention
but intentional dislocation
any place but here
any time but now
desperate disoriented
disquieted disrupted
away away
from here from now
aimless heedless
homeless soulless
fleeing running
fugere

re-fugere
fleeing running
repenting returning
back back
single-mindedly hopeful
hopefully determined
going home
going home
eager expectation
exquisite desire
for a here
for a now
embraced accepted
inhabited beloved
the place of
refuge

Fun with words …

The Cave

Crepuscular clouds cloak the walls of the cavern
cryptically concealing its crenelated buttresses and
            shrouding time in an uncanny stillness.
Splendiferous stalactites solemnly stand guard as
stealthy salamanders slither to and fro
            splotches of iridescent orange against the twilight.
Pearlescent pods of petrified pine nuts
populate preternaturally pristine pockets in the limestone
            telling the stories of plantations long gone.
Frigid freshets flood the fluted floor at my feet
filling fissures with fragments of florid feldspar and
            numberless flakes of sun-whitened bone.
Limpid lines of lovely lapis lazuli
lend a luminescent luster to the leaden tableau
            crowning an allegedly dreary scene with glory.

Moving meditatively through the melancholic mists I
mark the mesmerizing magnificence of a singular moment
            granted access to a place apart.
Humbly hearkening to the wonders of this hallowed haunt
head and heart happily heeding its distinctive charms
            I bless the cave our erstwhile home.

in fourteen hundred and forty-six days
this will be past
anguish and outrage
heartsickness and shame
relics to lay by
against future need

in fourteen hundred and forty-six days
we will move on
gathering shattered shards of
lives torn asunder
rising from the ash heap to
rebuild what we can

in fourteen hundred and forty-six days
we will stand side by side
taking the hand
of friend and stranger
promising truth and
practicing compassion

in fourteen hundred and forty-six days
we will turn the page
showing mercy where
none has been shown
foregoing vengeance
lest its lure ruin us

in fourteen hundred and forty-six days
we will look to the future
mourning the damage
that cannot be undone
but believing the arc
does bend toward justice

Denali
pinnacle of the continent
prince among mountains
imposing massif
intimidating summit
bowing to no one
honoring no one
except the One
who laid your foundations
when time began
the One bearing no other name than
“I am”

Denali
long before us
long after us
heedless of politics
careless of human whim
you remain you
you need no name
we might give you
bearing only the name
that is already yours
Dee-naa-lee
“Tall One”

Denali
what you are
is what you are
irrespective of moniker
your dignity
irrevocably bestowed
may we too
wear a dignity unbesmirched
by narrow-minded defamation
each bearing the name shared
with every son of Adam and daughter of Eve
“Child of God”

There is nothing like a morning breeze
Arustling through these ice-coated trees,
The briny air a wintry tease
On Salamander Road.

For thirty years I’ve lived this lane,
My nearest neighbor a sandhill crane,
But she went away with September rain
On Salamander Road.

Loud squawks of gulls disturb the quiet,
They swoop and twirl in exuberant riot.
If I were a bird I’d have to try it
On Salamander Road.

Pale sun sits low in the clouded sky,
Across its face two ospreys fly,
Their whistles echo, a haunting cry
On Salamander Road.

A tufted titmouse alights on the limb
Of a scruffy tamarack, perhaps on a whim,
But bringing delight as I gaze on him
On Salamander Road.

A pileated woodpecker, that prince of birds,
Circles a cedar in a dance of thirds,
Its plumes a sight that beggars words
On Salamander Road.

Our Maine state bird, a black-capped chickadee,
Twitters its song and hops about merrily,
Its antics cheering, but only temporarily
On Salamander Road.

There is nothing like a morning walk,
A January check on all my flock,
Escaping all the poppycock
On Salamander Road.