<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="">Toni,<div class="">Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful poem ! I would have loved to hear you read it, but I “hear” you speak through your written words and am glad to start the season with them dancing through my thoughts!</div><div class="">With love,</div><div class="">Lee<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Mar 21, 2023, at 7:11 PM, D. Sangraal via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Such hope, beauty and love. I am fed and nurtured by your expressions Toni.<div class="">Thank you.</div><div class="">D.</div></div><br class=""><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" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""></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;" class=""><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<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></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,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">searching
for whale spouts<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">and
answers to deep questions<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">but
instead, here <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">at
my feet, the long rope <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">of
a slender shape <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">lays quiet and still, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">though
slightly coiled<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">enough
to quicken my heart<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">in the mystery of its presence. <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></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<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">and
disappeared<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">as
if it never gave me its gift,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">that
it did. As it has every year,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">when
the snake shows herself to me, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">like
the shock of sudden snowy plum blossoms<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></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<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">beneath
my skin, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></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, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">the
cycles of how seasons change <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">and
the remembering of spring,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">to
be the open invitation,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">to
be wild again<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">renewed
and bursting<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class=""> like the earth herself.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></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,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">Out
I wiggle, breaking the egg of old lazy habits, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">I rise with the daffodils<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">open
the heart of my golden cup to fill<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">with new light of my own being.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">I
am all at once again encouraged <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">to
renew my vow<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">to
greet again each day, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">the
promise of birthing<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">holy
precious possibilities, <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">to
meet the greeting of the loyal dawn <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">blessed
by its renewal<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">curious
and excited as to what might emerge <u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class="">from
this love…..blossoming<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14px" class=""> as me. </span><font size="4" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></font></p>
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