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    <p>Lovely Toni, <br>
    </p>
    <p>Thank you for such a gift. Ditto to what everyone has said .</p>
    <p>Love and hugs, <br>
      Judy<br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/20/2023 10:15 PM, Jima via
      Thespiritexpress wrote:<br>
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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>
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