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Welcome! This is a place to share how we celebrate & deepen our relationship to Nature. Here you will find stories, images, & ideas about wilderness, human nature, & soulfulness. Drawing from the experiences of everyday living, the topics on this blog include: forays into the natural world, the writing life, community service, meditation, creativity, grief & loss, inspiration, & whatever else emerges from these. I invite you on this exploration of the wild within & outside of us: the inner/outer landscape.



Friday, September 29, 2023

Praise


the expression of respect and gratitude as an act of worship


I walk upon this Earth in praise of autumn’s arrival:

 

Evening arrives earlier each day

and chilly Dawn breaks in clouds of muted color

 

Alder dons a shawl of yellow gold

while Tomato brightens to orange then scarlet

 

Air smells moist and dust settles down

Rain hovers ready to quench Soil’s long summer thirst

 

Chrysanthemums bear buds with a hint of maroon in their centers

even as Last Lily surprisingly opens in a final ode to summer

 

Squirrels high in Maple’s reddening canopy bite off stems full of pods

and Newt, far below them, does push-ups among the fallen cache

 

Coyote, so brazen and young, howls incessantly outside my bedroom window

just as Barred Owl joins his two A.M. serenade

 

Breeze comes to “sing” the bamboo chimes

and Junco chit-buzzes an alarm call to her nearby kin

 

Oregon Grape turns burgundy

Slug brings out her extended family for a slide through wet Grass

Weaver, too, arrives with her cousins to decorate the world in webby designs

 

I walk through trees, along pathways, among friends, along the shore, 

in fog or rain or summer-faded sun, 

feet on pebbles or humus or pine needles or delightfully crunchy leaves, 

 

and I pray for Them, sing to Them, bless Them, caress Them (Amphibian and Hemlock), draw and paint Them, dream about Them, cry for Them, thank Them 

 

all in loving praise, celebration, grateful recognition, admiration, adoration, and profound reverence

 

(Orig. posted in Sept 2021.)