the multitudes of "I"

Who am I?

I am of multitudes:

I am grounded in family:

a wife who makes me better

as if she’s the greater half of my best self,

two sons whose wholeness of self

reveals the better qualities 

that heart and head express when loosed,

two granddaughters and a grandson

who release brilliance in the light they live,

I love home where we honor the Earth

with a dwelling wedded to land and sky,

windows and solar collectors to let in and hold

the glory beyond that visits our openness,

with blueberry bushes and a garden

that remind us of how wedded we are

to the gifts of plants who domesticate us 

as much as we do them,

I love words, and I use them to throw nets

at idea and experience so as to hold moments

which still will slip away,

I also see words shape-shift into puns, 

laugh at us,

and squirm away from control 

like a live fish in the hands,

I love photography, 

to capture a moment so as to remember, 

to capture a person so as to see

the miracle within step out for a moment,

and let us glimpse the extraordinary

which hides within the self-doubt people live,

which hides within every moment nature lives,

whether in rock, water, or life.

In my work I answer a calling,

my soul all wrapped-up with Carolina Friends School,

where who I am seems right for who the students are,

where the energy I invest in them

comes back redoubled when they become

closer and closer to who they should be

when they find themselves,

when they know themselves,

when they express themselves,

when the extraordinary within comes out for a visit.

by Henry H. Walker

June 12, ‘20