ALIVE, ON PLANET EARTH

gotofino.com

Dear Mother Earth,

when the Westerly blows
clouds scudding across the sky,

and the waves crash thunderously
upon the shore,

when the morning fog blankets
the sides of Meares,

jaggedy treetops poking through

to make me catch my breath in wonder,

while the morning fishboats
putt-putt-putt across the harbor,

and the bell tinkles over the door
of the Common Loaf,

all the faces turning to see
who just came in,

wet rain-gear sloughed off and steaming

in the warm, bread-scented air,

when the eagle cries
atop his favorite scrag,

and ravens pace around the picnic tables,

hoping for dropped scraps,

when dogs lollop in and out of the waves
with loopy grins,

and surfers stand to ride, and fall, and rise again,

when I turn in a circle

and see pristine and primordial beauty

for 360 degrees,

when the morning sun breaks
over Lemmens Inlet,

and the jellyfish wake in God's Pocket,

when the seabirds' cries are muted
by the roar of the surf,

and they sit facing seaward in a huddle,
predicting storm,

when the young ones ride the stream-bed
on the tide,

fly ahead, ride the current back again,

because birds just want to have fun,

when sunset paints the entire sky

with colors too fantastic to describe,

after the big fiery old orb has vanished 

behind the far horizon,

 little sanderlings weave and dart
along the shore as one body,

and the sonorous back and forth,
ebbing and flowing,

of the waves' ceaseless
advancing and retreating

sings us home,

when the wind howls up a tempest
that batters every living thing,

and we hide indoors,
awed by her strength and fury,

wood-stove crackling, and snug and well-content,

when just being alive and breathing 

in this blessed sacred forever place

seems more bountiful
than a wagon-load of gold boullion

and I more richly blessed,

there is no Thank You big enough
or sufficient words to tell you

how dearly I cherish your beauty,

the sheer awesome interconnected
wonder of you,

how grateful I am
to have walked this earth walk 

with you, your song in my heart,

nor how incomparable a lover

you have always been to me.

One from the summer of 2012, kids, as I am working hard archiving my body of work these days, a rather large undertaking!!