<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Thank you Toni, <div>For re-sharing.. since I was not present in physical form there this ceremony… absolutely loved this poem. You say so much in so little. So beautiful Thank you, </div><div>Paloma 💛🦋✨<br><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Mar 20, 2023, at 11:15 PM, Jima via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Toni,...your writing is so
accessible to my heart and mind. Thank-you for being one of my
portals to the opening of Spring.<br>
<br>
Blessings and love to you.<br>
<br>
Carlie<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/20/23 9:49 PM, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress wrote:<br>
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<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 class="">SPRING AT MY TOES ON THE
HAUL ROAD</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> </span><span class="">I
saw my first snake of the season</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">out
walking with bright air along the ocean,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">searching
for whale spouts</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and
answers to deep questions</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">but
instead, here </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">at
my feet, the long rope </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">of
a slender shape </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">lays quiet and still, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">though
slightly coiled</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">enough
to quicken my heart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">in the mystery of its
presence. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">And
I knew, even as it wiggled into the grass</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and
disappeared</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">as
if it never gave me its gift,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">that
it did. As it has every year,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">when
the snake shows herself to me, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">like
the shock of sudden snowy plum blossoms</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">in our back yard, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">spring has officially awakened</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">beneath
my skin, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">quivering with the bend of
longer days </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> I am reminded again</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">of
the mystery of things, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">the
cycles of how seasons change </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and
the remembering of spring,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">to
be the open invitation,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">to
be wild again</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">renewed
and bursting</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> like the earth herself.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">After
this long wet winter of forgetting,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Out
I wiggle, breaking the egg of old lazy habits, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">I rise with the daffodils</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">open
the heart of my golden cup to fill</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">with new light of my own
being.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">I
am all at once again encouraged </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">to
renew my vow</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">to
greet again each day, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">the
promise of birthing</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">holy
precious possibilities, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">to
meet the greeting of the loyal dawn </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">blessed
by its renewal</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">curious
and excited as to what might emerge </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">from
this love…..blossoming</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""> as me. </span></p>
<br>
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