deepundergroundpoetry.com
CEDARCIRRUSSEEUS (3-2-2000; Galveston, Texas)
earlier today
i rode my bike
through the
soothingly
yielding shadow
of a grand
old cedar tree
whose strong
tapered trunk
and extended
dark arms of
textured bark
reach up
ever sunwards
lifting fragrant
sweet dark tiers
of dense green
canopy up into
these wide wide
open china blue
skies above
like martha
grahams
expressive arms
flung freely wild
in graceful
praise sunwards
ever reaching
a seemingly
frozen wooden
dancer caught
mid flight in
its soul deep
inner natures
silent stoic
yearning
gives its
eloquent all
in such a
visually
poetic way
way down here
below yet also
up into out
across beyond
this great
blue domed
expansive sigh
of open sky
above where one
long high thin
white cirrus
wing slowly
stretched out
horizon to
horizon opening
in its
fanning sprawl
to delicately
spread its
long parallel
white wispy
cloud feathers
out like one
great lacey
rhythmic breath
across
the visible
breadth
of invisibly
immeasurable
heavens beyond
as i down
here below
its wondrous
sprawling show
in my silent
passing gasped
so breathlessly
at it all
filled with
humbled child
like awe
until i suddenly
realized
after somehow
momentarily
forgetting
i saw and was
profoundly
reminded here
right before
my consciously
yielding eyes
the underlying
all encompassing
greater truth
recalled that
i too am
along with
everyone and
everything else
that is
an inseparable
part of this
sprawling
wondrous shows
truly sacred
ineffable all
Published 1st May 2014
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Anonymous
- Edited 15th May 2018 9:39pm
1st May 2014 7:20am
<< post removed >>
Thank you Le Fay,!... Nature in all it's myriad forms of living, interconnected, manifested expression, from it's most miniscule & simple, to it's most beautifully grand & wondrously profound, has always innately been my deepest, true 'religion' & infallible, ever-present, truest 'savior'. Just as each & all of us (whether we sense, see, feel, innately know or even get it at all or not), are a divinely interconnected, essentially 'inseparable' part of 'it' ALL...
My comment/reply to you is going to be a bit longer here than I first intended Mourganna, but I feel compelled & 'inspired' enough about this basic, fundamental, truly 'spiritual' topic & subject matter (as I always have, since my earliest memories, even as a child, who was literally 'drug' (quietly kicking & screaming... inside my spirit, true nature & heart!!!) through Southern, 'Christian', fundamentalist, 'Old-Time Religion' (mostly fear-based, guilt driven & VERY LOUDLY proselytized, HELL-FIRE & BRIMSTONE, EVERYTHING'S A SIN & other such RIGID, B.S. DOGMA, which is traditionally stuffed down the throats & literally beaten (in my case!)into the bodies, minds & spirits of pure, innocent young children all over the world (in one form or another)to this very day!!!... (btw - I won!)
So at the risk of your very well (I'm sure) perhaps having read or heard this historic, semi-famous, but immensely neglected & forgotten quote before, from a wonderful & profoundly beautiful letter of response to the U.S. Government, from Chief Seattle back in 1852, which I have always found to be heartbreakingly beautiful & sad, esp. when considered in context with where our society's present day state of mostly profound 'disconnectedness' from Nature & our precious Mother Earth are at!!!)... So without any further adieu, here is Chief Seattle's profoundly enlightened & amazingly prophetic, beautiful, poetic letter of response to the U.S. Government, way back then:
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
"We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family.
"The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
"The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give to any brother.
"If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares it's spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
"One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt upon it's creator.
"Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
"When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
"We love this earth as a newborn loves it's mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.
" As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. The earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brothers after all."
INCREDIBLE & SO BEAUTIFULLY RELEVANT, DON'T YOU THINK?!!... Thanks for your patience in reading this & in allowing me to share these most powerfully moving & deeply affective, heart & soul-felt thoughts and wise words of the truly Great Chief Seattle with you (as well as any other DUP members, who may happen to see & read all these 'many' wonderful, still very relevant & critically important words here!)...
- OIN
My comment/reply to you is going to be a bit longer here than I first intended Mourganna, but I feel compelled & 'inspired' enough about this basic, fundamental, truly 'spiritual' topic & subject matter (as I always have, since my earliest memories, even as a child, who was literally 'drug' (quietly kicking & screaming... inside my spirit, true nature & heart!!!) through Southern, 'Christian', fundamentalist, 'Old-Time Religion' (mostly fear-based, guilt driven & VERY LOUDLY proselytized, HELL-FIRE & BRIMSTONE, EVERYTHING'S A SIN & other such RIGID, B.S. DOGMA, which is traditionally stuffed down the throats & literally beaten (in my case!)into the bodies, minds & spirits of pure, innocent young children all over the world (in one form or another)to this very day!!!... (btw - I won!)
So at the risk of your very well (I'm sure) perhaps having read or heard this historic, semi-famous, but immensely neglected & forgotten quote before, from a wonderful & profoundly beautiful letter of response to the U.S. Government, from Chief Seattle back in 1852, which I have always found to be heartbreakingly beautiful & sad, esp. when considered in context with where our society's present day state of mostly profound 'disconnectedness' from Nature & our precious Mother Earth are at!!!)... So without any further adieu, here is Chief Seattle's profoundly enlightened & amazingly prophetic, beautiful, poetic letter of response to the U.S. Government, way back then:
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
"We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family.
"The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
"The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give to any brother.
"If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares it's spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
"Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
"This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
"One thing we know: our god is also your god. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt upon it's creator.
"Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
"When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
"We love this earth as a newborn loves it's mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all.
" As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. The earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can be apart. We are brothers after all."
INCREDIBLE & SO BEAUTIFULLY RELEVANT, DON'T YOU THINK?!!... Thanks for your patience in reading this & in allowing me to share these most powerfully moving & deeply affective, heart & soul-felt thoughts and wise words of the truly Great Chief Seattle with you (as well as any other DUP members, who may happen to see & read all these 'many' wonderful, still very relevant & critically important words here!)...
- OIN
2nd May 2014 3:40pm
27th May 2014 11:40am
1st May 2014 8:44am
richly cinemascopic, the vast curved dome of heaven over an earthly paradise...
1st May 2014 4:35pm
Thank you John, for your own intriguingly beautiful, shared comment/response here!... (I see you too 'see' & perhaps 'feel' it all as well!)...
- OIN
- OIN