Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Heaven and Earth


I haven't written in a few weeks--work and winter colds have left me feeling a little strung out. Linking this little piece to dVerse OpenLinkNight, hoping that you all will join in and share your little piece of heaven and earth.

Heaven and Earth

It’s good to think
high thoughts—
our brains lightly brush
the heavens, lifted from earth,
drawn above plodding feet
into the beyond—

but at times we must rest
our heads in the tall grass,
as when we were children,
to smell the slow decay
and make peace with
our native home.

Edited: A few hours after posting this I realized a stray line had made it through the cutting process, making a very strange first stanza. Now removed for your viewing pleasure.

39 comments:

  1. yeah...we need both...heads in the clouds sometimes, hands in the soil..i like that...making peace with our native home... smiled at your comment over at my place...hahah..

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    1. Thanks Claudia--humans are odd creatures, part heavenly, part earthly.

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  2. So true, Nico. We can't lose by thinking high thoughts! And, yes, I remember resting my head in the grass when I was a child. Didn't mind the ants at all. We DO really need to make peace with our 'roots.'

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    1. Thanks Mary--here in the south you learn to look for fire ants BEFORE resting in the grass!

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  3. Thats a very easy, relaxed style. I wish making our peace was as easy as that style, life would be all gravy.

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    1. Thanks Tino--I wish it could be easier, too.

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  4. Nice to see you Nico ~ I specially like the ending lines, making peace with our native home ~

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  5. yes we have to do that at times...lay in the grass and dirt and connect again with the nature that drives us to those high places...smiles...

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    1. Thanks Brian--I've always liked that phrase, "down to earth."

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  6. This is beautifully written. I like "our brains lighty brush the heavens." I also could smell the grass and dirt in the second stanza. This poem makes me want to go cloud watching.

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    1. Thanks Heidi, there's not much better than an afternoon of cloud watching.

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  7. Work life is all consuming sometimes and we do need to return to the simple things, which hold all the delights of what really counts. Good to see you back again!

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    1. Thanks Cress, we too often forget how delightful the simple life can be.

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  8. Always between the clouds and the worms.
    The form looks like a pottery vessel - a container of our limitations.
    Good to see ya back

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    1. Thanks Sabio, between the clouds and worms--well put. And thanks for noticing the form. Would it surprise you to know I had a Bible verse in mind in making this form: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels."

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    2. No, I knew exactly the Hebrew verse to which you were referring:

      "For blessed is the pot who creates not a maker,
      nor seeks for hands by which
      to decorate himself
      and fears not
      the ordinary."

      ;-)

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    3. Ha! I like this verse--it sounds familiar, but I can't place the source. Makes me think of something from Lao tzu (Lin Yutang translation):

      Man models himself after the Earth;
      The Earth models itself after Heaven;
      The Heaven models itself after Tao;
      Tao models itself after Nature.

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    4. smile
      it was actually Sabio 3:16

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    5. That's what I thought. It might not become as well-loved as John 3:16, but it's still pretty good!

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    6. no accounting for taste!
      we all know the limits of democracy!

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  9. the connection of the heavens with the mind, and then back with the concept of home at the end, really like these relationships a lot. Thanks

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    1. Thanks Fred, our minds can take us just about anywhere, but there is just something about coming home that's special.

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  10. Wonderful truths, bueatifully expressed. What more can I say?

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    1. Of course, I could spell beautifully right, couldn't I?

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    2. Thanks Tony, your comments are always welcome, typos and all.

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  11. If we forget where we came from, we really are lost...

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    1. Thanks Stan--sometimes it seems that the very purpose of modern life is to disorient us, unsettle us, make us forget our roots.

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  12. The high mind is where i spend way too much time, my childhood feels like an abstract impression of someone elses pastlife but it was a peaceful place that i can and do still love to visit, even if it no longer seems to be my own: well crafted and deceptively simple, but ultimately V stimulating in the reading

    cheers nico - hope you re feeling better.

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    1. Thanks Arron--it's good to have a peaceful place, even if it is someone else's. Feeling a little better, finally getting some sleep.

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  13. I too spend too much time in high mind and agree with Arron about your poem being stimulating. Thanks for giving me space for rumination.

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    1. Thanks Anna--I find my highest thoughts come the closer I am to earth.

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  14. I just love your poetry, I always leave with the feeling gosh I needed that, and this is one. Funny I have been writing something on a place I went as a child and the magic was just the earth, and the peace it gave. This is just beautiful.

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    1. Thanks Di--I'm very happy to know my writing has meaning outside my own little skull. I look forward to reading about your magical childhood place!

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  15. Laying on the ground is very...well...grounding and its so important to remember how small we truly are which makes our worries that much smaller. Nicely written - peaceful to read.

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    1. Thanks Gretchen--yeah, it's entirely possible to think too much of ourselves. Become too serious about things, and the joy of life just seems to disappear.

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  16. ...i love the notion of smelling the slow decay... ah, to be intimate with the weeds while smelling the sky too... all makes a gentle day... smiles... and wonderful offering...

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    1. Thanks Kelvin--there's a certain beauty in slow decay, I think.

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  17. interesting imagery. it is important to seek the balance of both. we need to occasionally touch the clouds with our feet and without forgeting what it's like to dig our hands into the ground. (that last line made sense in my head...)

    lovely!

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