Reluctance to leave the envelope of bed, reluctance. But the whirring and humming, revving of the mind (faithful engine, reliable horse) harasses the body into obedience, and for good reason. There is wood to cut, snow to shovel, ice to melt, water to boil, pots to be washed, plans to be drawn, ragged roads toContinue reading “This Winter Morning”
Tag Archives: nature
Plants and Animals
If I were a plant, I might arrive at silence and stillness a little more gracefully. I might meditate with greater success. If I were a plant, I think you would find that – impossible as it seems – I am both an annual and a perennial. Both evergreen and deciduous, succulent and garden flower,Continue reading “Plants and Animals”
Fellow Travelers
There is more than one world. Turn your attention now, away from the one that is always trying to sell you something, for time is short and you have work to do. Befriend yourself, settle into a homecoming, apprentice yourself to the dear friend of your own curiosity, to a sense of belonging, a familiarityContinue reading “Fellow Travelers”
Tread Lightly
You’ve been searching a long time now. Somewhere along the way, you pause. You begin to notice the intricacies of every texture, the textures of every intricacy. All the magic you overlooked becomes discernible. How could you have missed it? It is at once ordinary and extraordinary, astonishing and unremarkable, poetic and prosaic. Seeing this,Continue reading “Tread Lightly”
Dear Diary
You must not complain about dust. Dust becomes cloud becomes rain becomes forest becomes life, so you must not complain about dust as you wipe it from a table, books, shelves. May there be an empty space in the palm of my hand, where every night some means to an end used to be. NotContinue reading “Dear Diary”
Now and Again
“Now we return to the lily”
How To Carry Soup
“Time now to gather the wild grain of yourself, kindle the spark of yourself…”
Walkabout
“Alone as you feel, you are with all the world”
Zen
Daylight passes over the garden. Wild green things grow thick ‘round the entranceway. Spotted fawns have come by, their mother not far behind. Cat sits and watches.
Pilgrimage
All day long, I see things a painter would paint. What is there to complain about? Even my own pain has been endured by thousands before me, and depicted by master sculptors. Pilgrimage, penance, failure, learning to hold one’s self tenderly, in friendship – all these have relevance to my experience of life. Honoring theContinue reading “Pilgrimage”
C.M. Rivers 