<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Thank you Toni, it was so good after hearing it in your wonderful voice, to read it, to have it, and to read again this holy welcome to snake medicine and to the promises of Spring.<div class="">Blessings</div><div class="">Riantee<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Mar 20, 2023, at 21:49, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks to those who requested another look/see at the poem I read at the Equinox Ceremony. Thank you ALL who were able to attend. What a sweet night it was.</p><div class="">With love and all blessings, Toni</div><p class="MsoNormal"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size: 14px;" class="">SPRING AT MY TOES ON THE
HAUL ROAD<o:p class=""></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> </span><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">I
saw my first snake of the season</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">out
walking with bright air along the ocean,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">searching
for whale spouts<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">and
answers to deep questions<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">but
instead, here <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">at
my feet, the long rope <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">of
a slender shape <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">lays quiet and still, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">though
slightly coiled<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">enough
to quicken my heart<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">in the mystery of its presence. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">And
I knew, even as it wiggled into the grass<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">and
disappeared<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">as
if it never gave me its gift,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">that
it did. As it has every year,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">when
the snake shows herself to me, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">like
the shock of sudden snowy plum blossoms<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">in our back yard, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">spring has officially awakened<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">beneath
my skin, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">quivering with the bend of longer days </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> I am reminded again</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">of
the mystery of things, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">the
cycles of how seasons change <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">and
the remembering of spring,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">to
be the open invitation,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">to
be wild again<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">renewed
and bursting<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> like the earth herself.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">After
this long wet winter of forgetting,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Out
I wiggle, breaking the egg of old lazy habits, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">I rise with the daffodils<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">open
the heart of my golden cup to fill<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">with new light of my own being.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">I
am all at once again encouraged <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">to
renew my vow<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">to
greet again each day, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">the
promise of birthing<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">holy
precious possibilities, <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">to
meet the greeting of the loyal dawn <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">blessed
by its renewal<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">curious
and excited as to what might emerge <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">from
this love…..blossoming<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> as me. </span><font size="4" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></font></p>
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