These are the before and after poems from a long hike with a friend that began on the continental divide. The first one was written at 4:15 am in my car before the hike, and the second after processing the events of the day.
Stars
Lightening
Stark, tall trees all along
Gray peaks, black sky
Ribbon road
Joyful soul
Alone
But not really
God
By my side
Stirring ribbons of love in my belly
Adventure beckons
Time (col)lapses
Eternity ensues
The wild is my safe place
The mountain tops are my home
Here where air is thin
Is where my soul breathes
Gulping enough real
To last till I come up for air
Again
These rocks
Are teaching this fire to burn slow
Providing texture and direction for my flow
I come here
To learn
To know
Be known
Healed
Wholed
To restore the knowing I carried across the divide
I am born here
A woman
Wild
Fierce
Free
The only thing this body needs
Is a galaxy
Spinning
Burning
Creating
Imploding
Expanding and contracting
Breathe
Deep
Surging
Plates shifting
Earth sighing
Majesty unfolding
Daring
Trusting
Leaping
Soaring
Wild
Yet inviting
Independent
And engaging
I feel stretched, my heart trying to hear the shape this full empty makes
I rest between two mountains
My body against one, my soul within another
I lay in the valley
Held
Cradled
The rocks and gravel and wind are soft
Awe is the only thing I can see from here
You aren’t beautiful, you say
I understand
But you take my breath away
Longing is unearthed
To somehow be the way
To bring this glory to light
How do I convey?
What it feels like to be trusted
To trust
It’s magic
It makes us bigger
Could I ever give enough gratitude?
For the gifts I received…just today?
Just this one day?
Every moment is sheer miracle
I wish I could paint
All the canvases in the world
With these visions
Pulsing my eyes to brimming
So I could perceive with a different gaze
And absorb you all over
Trickling into every pore
This is what I’m hungry for
God is teaching me
What it is to fall
Upward
Inward
In love
What Love is
What my heart is for
Never before have I loved so much
And yet cared so little
“Please…just let this Beloved, Be loved, by You”
This is my one request
My heart’s one plea
Love
Is
Free
The Eye of the Needle 