(on a hike at Devil's Punchbowl near Pearblossom, CA)
Mountain-shaped silhouettes
Mark the the tall pale stalk
Of a spent yucca:
Are these its last lines of praise
For the land where it stands?
Above, the yellow pine
Sighs with the deep gratitude I feel
As wind vibrates
Its long-needled vocal chords.
Below, in the canyon,
Slabs of pale sandstone tilt sunward.
The fault line that lifts them
Carves a long notch into the mountains beyond,
And drives a crack
Through my imagination.
A thin bright stream shapes the stone
With tumbling grains of sand.
A pinon tree lifts hidden water
Through roots, up its trunk, through needles,
And into the air.
Mark the the tall pale stalk
Of a spent yucca:
Are these its last lines of praise
For the land where it stands?
Above, the yellow pine
Sighs with the deep gratitude I feel
As wind vibrates
Its long-needled vocal chords.
Below, in the canyon,
Slabs of pale sandstone tilt sunward.
The fault line that lifts them
Carves a long notch into the mountains beyond,
And drives a crack
Through my imagination.
A thin bright stream shapes the stone
With tumbling grains of sand.
A pinon tree lifts hidden water
Through roots, up its trunk, through needles,
And into the air.
Slowing, I breathe scents of sage and pine.
This is the silence of the centuries
Between the last earthquake and the next.
No less alive than I
Is all I see, and the ground on which I stand.
Can I stop long enough
To catch the heartbeat of this earth?
______________________
I'll be speaking on THE BIBLE AND THE BRAIN - exploring how recent findings in cognitive science and in the evolution of human consciousness can inform the way we read the Bible - this Sun, Feb 12, 8:30 am at Manhattan Beach Community Church.
___________________
See a recent article by Diana Butler-Bass refuting conservatives' charge that a "war" is being waged on religion in America.
For your progressive Christian calendar - events that will be celebrated in churches around the US and beyond:
February 12, this Sunday: Evolution Weekend
April 15, Sunday: Blessing of the Taxes
May 6, Sunday: Pluralism Sunday - sign up your church to participate, now!
_______________________
Right after I wrote last week's "musing" about progressive taxation, President Obama quoted the same passage from Jesus that I cited: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/02/obama-jesus-would-tax-the-rich-113274.html
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See a recent article by Diana Butler-Bass refuting conservatives' charge that a "war" is being waged on religion in America.
