centered by the moment

 

When it all clicks. . .

have you ever been in nature when it all clicked?

the moment morphs into transcendence,

not even an "I-Thou,"

rather a "We" are all "Thou,"

every single leaf, trunk, rock, flower,

can center the universe,

and join all together,

could it be that all kids are animists at heart,

feeling spirit within everything?

and then we grow up and the music stops,

could it be that kids know they can be under-estimated,

so they realize plants and animals also can not be seen fully?

I have heard a calling

and followed it as teacher

for over half a century,

and, while that service has grounded me,

and enabled my love to ripple outward,

the sound of that calling has made it

a challenge to hear other callings,

I have thus long slipped into doing

and often forgotten just being,

I long for more moments of transcendence:

the smooth gait of a wild wolf on the move,

the tender hug of a bear and a tree,

the patient hunger of a heron

till it knifes after the minnow,

the gratuitous elegance of leaf, flower, fungus,

the bracing joy of water falling toward the sea,

the bracing joy of immersing in a mountain stream,

the complexities revealed in a tidal pool,

the ephemeral colors just before sunrise,

just after sunset,

the gift of what is just around the bend.

by Henry H. Walker

July  22, ‘24

with thanks to the inspiring The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World 

of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger

ISBN 978-0-06-307385-2