This is going to be a quick post, as I just did a slight edit of a poem I wrote a few days ago, and am posting it on my way to bed. I'll likely edit more later, but for now I'm happy with it, as it is essentially what I captured stream-of-thought.
Our past two days have been mostly dry and sunny, but this was written during a period of unremitting rain, interspersed with a couple of really nice thunderstorms, of which the one mentioned in the poem was the first.
As it turned out, we were without power for about four hours, unusual around here, but what a gorgeous thunderstorm!
I'm posting this from my phone with Partiko, so I'll format this post tomorrow.
The photo is of the volunteer native black raspberry growing through and in front of our covered front porch.
Life is good, and getting better, better and better!
20190220 - I Choose to Believe - Original Poem
This morning
And yesterday before
I was awakened by the crashing
Of thunder
And driving rain
A rarity in February
In this land that sees winter for real
But glorious in its display
Of the majesty of sheer raw power
And I think of my animals
Not Lolo, unperturbed, at the foot of my bed
The cats, safe and warm
Snuggled together in front of the heater
But our animals living outside
The chickens, likely safe in their wooden coop,
The rabbits and Guinea pigs
Likely safe, but frightened,
Hunkered down in their metal-sheathed cages
Our doves, most protected of all,
Large metal cage protected deeply
Beneath the overhang of our covered front porch
But it's the ducks I'm most concerned for
As even in the coldest freezing weather
They eschew the coop
And huddle out in the open
But then again,
It's nice weather for ducks
Last night, as I left to meet Marek in Sparta,
My tires spun out in the wet, squishy mud
Despite my car having all wheel drive
Because we've already had so much rain
Our river is high and running fast
The color of coffee with milk
From all the clay washed away
From all the rain that's come before
As I'm writing I receive an emergency alert
We have a flash flood warning until 1:45
With two more weeks of heavy rains ahead
I'm concerned that we may lose power,
But when I turn, I see the comfort
Of my clock flashing red
So the loss is only momentary
We have little danger of flooding
As our river is a thousand feet to our east
And fifty feet below
But I offer silent prayers for our neighbors
Who may not be so fortunate
That they be spared and their homes remain dry
As Marek prepared to cross the Mississippi last night
He was shocked to see how much earlier the waters started
Than he had ever seen them before
And, having crossed, noted that six miles past
Where the river should have ended
The normally dry woods
Were reduced to treetops sticking out from the water
With still, more rains to come
I'm reminded of the flood year of 1969
When our hillside near L.A. remained unaffected
Because my parents left the ice plant
That the developers planted to secure the soil
But our neighbor to our south,
Who hadn't liked the looks of it,
Ripped his all out
And lost ten feet or more of his back yard
Which slid down the hillside.
I remember being at my school
At the bottom between streets up the two meeting hills
And looking up to see growing bulges in the hillsides
As the saturated soil was pushed out
By the weight of back yard swimming pools
And wondering what would happen
Should they be pushed all the way
Which thankfully never happened . . .
But could have.
And I think again on Man's hubris
And lack of foresight
In even educating themselves
About flood and drought cycles
Which follow pretty closely the sunspot cycles
Every eleven years, and every twenty-two years
Like clockwork
My mother thought it sad, yet hilarious
When, in dry seasons, people kept building houses
At the bottoms of canyons
Which then were carried to sea
When next the floods came
Like clockwork
And today, despite rising sea levels
Intensifying storm seasons
And the knowledge that the population already there
Is degrading the environment
And using more water than the aquifers can provide
More condos are being built along the Florida coasts
Proving that developers,
And those granting building permits,
Are fools
And I'm reminded of an article I read
One day in National Geographic
About a man whose family had farmed
Along the Mississippi River
for five generations
And how their antebellum home
Had been flooded yet again
Along with their crops
When he watched a barge passing along the river
A lightbulb switched on in his brain
The man bought a barge
The largest he could find
And moved his antebellum home aboard
Along with their barn, animals, and truck garden
It was a hell of a lot of work
And his neighbors thought he was crazy
But when next the floods returned
He and his family watched the waters rise
From the safety of their tethered barge
And I thought, what a brilliant idea!
Mankind can be taught!
If we allow it, and if we, to paraphrase Taylor Mali,
Allow our minds to open at the proper time
To take in new information, and with it
To gain new insights, to formulate new ideas
To make new plans to help ourselves and others
To create a bold new vision
And see it through
I, despite the raging tide of fools spreading fear,
Consider most of it to be nothing but illusion
And have great hope for our world.
Politics means nothing.
Most politicians are in it for their own gains
having small thoughts and few real ideas
Which robs them of their power
Rendering them irrelevant
Religion means nothing.
Faith is individual and means nothing
Unless it comes from the heart,
a directive from the soul,
to enlighten and empower all.
To codify it robs it of power
and renders it irrelevant
Humanity is amazing.
For every bad actor there are a dozen more doing good work
helping animals, the environment, their fellow humans,
but too often we don't hear about them
because it doesn't sell advertising.
Our minds are amazing.
We can and do shape the very world around us.
Intentional meditation and prayer can have measurable effects
and create real changes benefitting all.
Setting an intention out loud,
strengthened by writing it down,
sets forces in action to make it happen,
which consistent focused action helps bring to fruition.
One of my most cherished intentions
to see all manmade toxins in our environment
nullified and transmuted on an atomic scale
into a form benefiting all life on our planet
and aiding in its healing.
I visualize endangered and dying species and ecosystems
and, rather than despairing, see them thriving
vibrant, healthy and whole,
as I choose to believe in the healing power of our planet
aided by the energies of those among us
who love her, and her interconnected web of life.
I choose to believe that we are more powerful
than the destroyers who know nothing
but ruling by fear
because they wouldn't know real love
if it bit them in the ass
which, in the end, it very well may
I choose to believe that the least among us,
when empowered by love
are more powerful by far than those
who know only self-serving and greed
I choose to believe
that love is stronger than fear
and that, in the presence of pure love,
fear cannot prevail
I choose to believe in goodness
in kindness
in consideration for others
in the protection of animals, children, and our environment
I choose to believe that animals have souls
for I have looked into the eyes of dogs,
horses, whales, dolphins, elephants and more,
and knew another soul was looking deeply into mine
I choose to believe that true power lies within us
within each and every one of us
no matter how we appear to others
or even to ourselves
we use it, or lose it,
as power without intention is fallow ground
but with each moment comes a new chance
to choose the world of our own making
to create something new from the dust of the old
to improve on what came before us
I believe we are here to co-create
to feel our connection with the all and everything
to choose differently than the destroyers we do not respect
to bring light to the darkness
and comfort to the suffering
I choose to believe.
What do you believe?
Let us change the world together
making it a better place for all.
Shall we?
Lol . . . Just unplugged my phone . . . and lost power. Hopefully not for long.