<div dir="ltr">This is a beautiful poem Toni. Thank you for writing it.<div>I will think of it when I next walk the Haul Rd Love,</div><div>Joan</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 9:29 PM Sue Magoo 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-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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So many of the other beloved‘s have expressed what I felt both witnessing, and hearing this poem, recited live at the equinox. Not to mention having the opportunity to read it again.
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<div> I am so moved by your gift to paint a canvas of imagery for the mind’s eye of what the soul and spirit is experiencing in form, in the moment… </div>
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<div>Especially loved your confession of thinking you were going to start a poem with a certain tone and intention…</div>
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<div> Appreciate your honesty and authenticity around the truth of being present in the moment to what is unfolding, what it takes to catch these poems of yours 👏🏽🥳</div>
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<div> 🙏🏼😘🫶Sue<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div>
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<blockquote type="cite">On Mar 22, 2023, at 3:40 PM, lee michel alley via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" target="_blank">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr"> Toni,
<div>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>With love,</div>
<div>Lee<br>
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<div>On Mar 21, 2023, at 7:11 PM, D. Sangraal via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" target="_blank">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div dir="ltr">Such hope, beauty and love. I am fed and nurtured by your expressions Toni.
<div>Thank you.</div>
<div>D.</div>
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<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" target="_blank">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> 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>With love and all blessings, Toni</div>
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<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>
<div><span style="font-size:14px"> </span><br>
</div>
<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>
<div><span style="font-size:14px"> </span><br>
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<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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