the iron needle aligns

to align or to resist?

iron, if allowed to move with little resistance,

aligns itself with the ubiquitous, invisible, demanding

magnetic field of the Earth,

it must feel right for it to do so,

and it must feel a strain within its very self

when it knows how to be, and it can’t be so,

so like how one can feel

about getting right with that of God,

the cardinal directions pull at us

as if we too are iron needles,

we need to know where we are,

we need to know where everything else is,

and we need to fit ourselves in the world around us,

every morning the Sun rises and can center us,

every evening the Sun sets and can center us,

clouds out of the south or out of the north,

out of the west, or sometimes out of the east,

can tell us what’s happening,

whether a reality of cold or heat, of sun or rain,

first we need to know where we are within the whirling world,

and then we need to choose how much

to align ourselves, or how much to resist, the currents around us,



only when we know the board of the game

should we then choose how to play 

with the precious piece of our time.

compass courtesy of Google images
chiastolite crystal from Lancaster, MA
photos by me

by Henry H. Walker

April 17, ’13