THE CLEARING

​

I am clearing a space

here, where the trees stand back.

I am making a circle so open

the moon will fall in love

and stroke these grasses with her silver.

I am setting stones in the four directions,

stones that have called my name

from mountaintops and riverbeds, canyons and mesas.

Here will I stand with my hands empty,

mind empty under the moon.

And if something takes my life, if a sudden wind

sweeps through me, changing everything,

I will not resist.

I am ready for whatever comes.

But I think it will be

something small, an animal

padding out from the shadows

on delicate paws, or a word

spoken so softly I hear it inside.

There is a way to live

that makes the angels cry out

in rapture.

There is a way to live

that makes each cell a star.

Come stand with me here;

it is cold, I know, and silent,

nothing is happening.

The next breath, and the next, is the new life