Easter ~ Rise Up

April 20, 2025 Rise Up Rise up, for the tomb is empty,our call clear.Rise up to shine the Light.Grind the dried palmsof betrayal under your feetand raise the lilies of peace.Piece together the torn tunicAnd make it a garment of unity.Drop the silver coinsinto the hands of the hungryand feed his sheep.Turn out the falseContinueContinue reading “Easter ~ Rise Up”

Vermont Night

April 12, 2025 Vermont Night “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Somewhere outside of Montpeliermiles from the lights of townwith autumn approachingbut not yetI stand under the night skyand gaze up.Such a simple actraising my face to nightmy sight to lightafterContinueContinue reading “Vermont Night”

Spring Ephemerals

Spring wildflowers, March 19, 2025 Ephemerals(plants that flower briefly once in the spring) I walk the woods seeking spring’s ephemerals,turning leaf and rock like a child seeks treasures, here in the woods of the Creek, the Cherokee,here where the creek clatters freely down limestone. Here mottled trilliums blanket the floor;hepatica’s white petals blanket the moss.ContinueContinue reading “Spring Ephemerals”

Advent 2024: Look

St. Naum at Monastery of St. Naum, Macedonia, (c) T. Brett McMahan Advent Day 5, December 5, 2024 You Reading This, Be Ready ~ by William Stafford Starting here, what do you want to remember?How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?What scent of old wood hovers, what softenedsound from outside fills the air? Will youContinueContinue reading “Advent 2024: Look”

Advent 2024: Silence

Advent Day 4, December 4, 2024 Lo, in the silent nightA child to God is bornAnd all is brought againThat ere was lost or lorn. Could but thy soul, O man,Become a silent night!God would be born in theeAnd set all things aright. Whoever wrote this 15th century verse knew a truth about the giftContinueContinue reading “Advent 2024: Silence”

The Waiting: A Poem of Advent

Advent Day 2: December 2, 2024 The Waiting ~ A Poem of Advent “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear.  I will help you.'”  (Isaiah 41:13) O, Isaiah, ancient prophet of doom, prophet of ancient hope,your proclamations resound like cymbalsjarring this stillContinueContinue reading “The Waiting: A Poem of Advent”

Advent 2024: Waiting as One

December 1, 2024 Welcome, any and all, to this season of Advent, the four-week period of waiting for the Light to be born. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, a believer of anything or of nothing, you are welcome here. We’re all alive, breathing as one, at this same moment, on this same planet, our common aches,ContinueContinue reading “Advent 2024: Waiting as One”