Sacred Fire – Page 3 – Nancy Wood Literary Trust

Connections – November 2015

07/29/201811/21/2015

I am all things, connected to all time and all places.

I am the undernourished bones of aged men.

I am the new blood of unborn babies.

I am a virgin searching for a lover.

I am a seed, waiting to become corn. I am ancient Fire,

cleansing the ravaged Earth. I am Ice, begging for

replenishment. I am all things, connected to

all animals and birds. See me running with buffalo?

See me soaring with eagles? What they are, I am.

Where they go, I have been before.

When they die, a part of me dies also.

When they are born, my life begins anew.

Out of stone-cold earth, I have become a flame.

08/12/2015

Rainbows still live in the sky and green grass

is growing everywhere. Clouds have familiar shapes

and sunsets have not changed color in a long time. Thunder

still follows lightning and spring comes after winter’s misery.

A tree is still a tree and a rock is still a rock. A warbler

sings its familiar song and coyotes howl

in disconcerting harmony. Grasshoppers still hop

to their own music,

bees still buzz with excitement, and squirrels

still jump like acrobats. Mountains still contain mystery

and oceans surge with eternity. Bears still sleep in winter

and eagles fly higher than other birds. Snakes have an affinity

for the ground, while fish

are content in water. Patterns persist,

life goes on, whatever rises will converge.

Do what you will, but strengthen the things that remain.