[Thespiritexpress] Read at on Tuesday: BirthdayCreature

[lee michel alley]

Yes, what an enjoyable picture you’ve created with your poem/story!
Thank you, 🌞💦💚
Lee

> On May 28, 2023, at 2:55 PM, Susan via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org> wrote:
> 
> Oh Riantee…I laugh & laugh…wonderful…Thank you🙏⭐️Susan
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On May 27, 2023, at 1:26 PM, Yasskin Marc via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Wow ~ what I want to know is what was that animal coming up your leg ~ !!
>> 
>> Beautiful reflections in the moment ~ love how you take time for yourself especially on your b-day like that.
>> Talking time for real intimacy ~ with ourselves. ~~~~ and especially in Nature.
>> 
>> Learning how so many know nothing about that ~ or have cultivated the time/space for it in their lives.
>> Artists know it better than most ~ love your new book ~ wonderful playful ~~~~ profoundly delightful. ~ !!
>> 
>> yr pal on the Path,
>> ~m.🙏🌟
>> 
>>> On May 27, 2023, at 12:13 PM, Riantee Rand via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org <mailto:thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> The Creature on My Birthday
>>>>  
>>>> I sit perfectly still at a confluence of two streams
>>>> my feet caressing the water
>>>> where a twisted branch
>>>> churns the water into foam.
>>>> At the place where moss swaddle the massive rocks
>>>> the quivering ferns plot a new flow
>>>> and the sound of water turns into distinctive voices;
>>>> when I listen too intensely,
>>>> the voices become sounds again.
>>>>  
>>>> A black fish suddenly shoots across a deep pool
>>>> clearing a path through my consciousness.
>>>> When it leaves my vision I catch sight of a furry creature
>>>> now swimming towards my leg.
>>>> Its thick brown coat is dripping,
>>>> wet strands partly hide its tiny ears,
>>>> it has the tail of a swimmer, the eyes of a hunter,
>>>> it is here, right here,
>>>> in the eye of the present,
>>>> on the head of a pin,
>>>> so close to my truth
>>>> it burns a hole into what I called my reality.
>>>>  
>>>> Through that window I catch sight of a new me
>>>> untroubled as a forest,
>>>> limpid as water,
>>>> surrendered to what is.
>>>> My leg is a tree trunk
>>>> that can readily accept being climbed on.
>>>> I am dispassionate and present,
>>>> I do not need a name for the creature,
>>>> I do not need a name for myself.
>>>>  
>>>> As the animal starts climbing my leg
>>>> a branch suddenly snaps and startles me.
>>>> My mind rapidly takes hold of the situation:
>>>> What foolishness.
>>>> My leg is no tree trunk,
>>>> I am no forest.
>>>> I am made of flesh
>>>> that can be easily torn.
>>>>  
>>>> Horror stricken at my transformation
>>>> the animal jumps back,
>>>> and
>>>> with an impossible twist of its spine,
>>>> plunges backward into the water and swims out of sight.
>>>>  
>>>> The mind rearranges the world
>>>> to make believe
>>>> that it has control.
>>>>  
>>> 
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