Saturday, December 31, 2011

and i knew


i was walking through nearby woods when i came across this branch.
it had been lifted and moved slightly, revealing a shadow of fallen leaves.
a memory.
an echo.

a sense of uplifting.
a passage across a great open space.
and i knew.


"i feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
i feel my heart
pumping hard. i want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
i want to be light and frolicsome.
i want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though i had wings."

mary oliver



words by mary oliver excerpted from starlings in winter

7 comments:

Elisabeth said...

There is a pleasure, or at least there can be, in what lies beneath.
Happy New Year, Steven.

hope said...

Thanks for all the cheer you shared this year, meaning I look forward to 2012 visits!

Best to you and the ones you love.

JJ Roa Rodriguez said...

just dropping by to say:

HAPPY NEW YEAR Sir Steven... and to your family...

JJRod'z & JC

erin said...

god, how the world speaks! oh, and mary oliver. and you.

xo
erin

Valerianna said...

All is revealed with just the slightest adjustment!

Reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy's work - when he lies down just as it starts to rain or snow and then gets up to reveal the silhouette of a man.... oh and then mary oliver, well, yes, she's intoxicating!

steven said...

valerianna - andy g's work is among my most favourite. thankyou for drawing the connection across that unnecessarily wide space. mary oliver - sees the inside the outside and then the everything else of this place. phew. steven

lorely said...

Hans reaching up to embrace the unknown...fingers cold..yet striving...always reaching...that is how your photo and words speak to me...May you always keep that genuine seeking nature...and may your hands be branches that lift to the heavens...even in the frost...of a dry ground.