Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Frogs, prayers, place for everything

Last night, I could no longer read another newspaper or another columnist explaining the predicament of world markets, the dysfunction of the Congress, or prognosticate about which presidential candidate should be doing what. So I went through my collection of "Dwellings," the poems and paragraphs sent by my friend, Karen, to all of her friends over the years (I now have more than 500 stored in my email). I found many wonderful gems. Here's one she sent three years ago, marking the season and more: 

Place
Bernardo Taiz

Inside an open rose
A tree frog
no bigger
than my thumbnail.
I try to imagine
rest like that,
tucked
in such a bed of petals.
I try to imagine
prayer like that,
listening
so intently
in the early light
and
saying so little.

The summer
teeters
now
into old age,
as do I,
those blackberries
that still cling
to their thorny arms
withering,
readying themselves
to trust the earth again,
where,
for a moment
at least,
there is a place for everything.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Jim -

I so appreciate the poems you send along to us.

The one today is especially meaningful as I prepare to say goodbye to my beloved cat of 17 years:
"... readying themselves to trust the earth again, where,for a moment at least,there is a place for everything."

What we would do without poetry?

Leslie