with thanks to JT
Start in the dirt,
said the photographer,
then elevate from there.
And though I was thinking
of poems, and though
he was speaking of images,
I immediately leapt to healing.
Just today I heard of a girl
who, on Christmas morning,
learned her stomach ache was cancer.
I called her mother
to console her, though
I was the one near tears.
Start in the dirt.
Ammons, my hero, once
looked to the dirt
in search of something
lowly, but all he could find
was magnificence. Within
a stanza, he launched
from ticks to galaxies.
Sometimes in the dirt
all I see is dirt.
I held back the tears until
after we hung up the phone,
then wept. I wanted to find
some shred of magnificence
in her story, but it is, perhaps,
too soon. No magnificence. I suppose
that’s the invitation to stay in the dirt,
stay there until I know, really know,
there is nothing lowly. Not
the lichen. Not the slug. Not the ant.
Not mutating cells.
Hafiz, my hero, once wrote
that everything, everything
is holy. Sometimes I want
to argue with him.
Start in the dirt. Yes.
Perhaps I will be here a while.
I have some practicing to do.
It may be some time
before I elevate.
The dirt is where we start.
The dirt is where we end.
The dirt is where the flowers grow from,
into where the roots extend.
The dirt is where the rain falls into
Where the mud can roam.
The heart, meanwhile, can break
In dirt or higher up.
When children ail there’s little more
To do but hug and cry and try to play awhile
And rage and weep and nap.
I’m so sorry to hear about the little one. I’ll be sending some distant TT (Therapeutic Touch) for the highest good, to her, to her family, to you.
this is beautiful … thank you. And thank you for the gift of touch, even from far away, I believe it helps. Thank you.
You are welcome … Healing intentions for the highest good go where they need to, if they are needed, and the rest dissipates as compassion, which cannot hurt, especially if we don’t need to know exactly who it went to, or where. Compassion just is. Take good care and I’m glad you understood … 🙂 Na’ama
thank you … what a beautiful spirit you have, it comes right through the either.
I appreciate your heart, your honesty, and your way with words. Thank you.
Thank you … it seems like a whammy of challenging news lately, and I know that there is beauty in it, beauty all around, but for now, this dance with what is challenging.