<div dir="ltr"><p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Toni – you <i>are</i>
the flower power blooming with graciousness in our garden – a true beauty to behold! I revere your poetic flickering, much like the
snake tongue in your poem, sensing a new hope for a new season, a new day, and as
you put it so wonderfully, <i>“the promise of birthing holy precious possibilities…”</i> Thank you for sharing your poetic experience
of pure presence on a new Spring day with us.
I marvel at what’s to come in this new season – what it will hold, what
it will release… </p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">~ Ed </p></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Mar 20, 2023 at 9:49 PM Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">
<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>With love and all blessings, Toni</div><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-size:14px">SPRING AT MY TOES ON THE
HAUL ROAD<u></u><u></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> </span><span style="font-size:14px">I
saw my first snake of the season</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">out
walking with bright air along the ocean,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">searching
for whale spouts<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">and
answers to deep questions<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">but
instead, here <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">at
my feet, the long rope <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">of
a slender shape <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">lays quiet and still, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">though
slightly coiled<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">enough
to quicken my heart<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">in the mystery of its presence. <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">And
I knew, even as it wiggled into the grass<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">and
disappeared<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">as
if it never gave me its gift,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">that
it did. As it has every year,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">when
the snake shows herself to me, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">like
the shock of sudden snowy plum blossoms<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">in our back yard, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">spring has officially awakened<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">beneath
my skin, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">quivering with the bend of longer days </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> I am reminded again</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">of
the mystery of things, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">the
cycles of how seasons change <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">and
the remembering of spring,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">to
be the open invitation,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">to
be wild again<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">renewed
and bursting<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> like the earth herself.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">After
this long wet winter of forgetting,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">Out
I wiggle, breaking the egg of old lazy habits, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">I rise with the daffodils<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">open
the heart of my golden cup to fill<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">with new light of my own being.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">I
am all at once again encouraged <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">to
renew my vow<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">to
greet again each day, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">the
promise of birthing<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">holy
precious possibilities, <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">to
meet the greeting of the loyal dawn <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">blessed
by its renewal<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">curious
and excited as to what might emerge <u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px">from
this love…..blossoming<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px"> as me. </span><font size="4"><u></u><u></u></font></p>
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