The Path Behind

The Path Behind

Often times…
I intentionally gaze ‘back.’

In deep gratitude I raise my head
knowing the path behind paved
the way to this ‘present’ NOW—

How can I not, NOT whisper
aloud, “Thank you!”
The Wild Geese
“Horseback on Sunday morning, harvest over, we taste persimmon and wild grape,
sharp sweet of summer’s end.  In time’s maze over fall fields, we name names that went west from here, names that rest on graves.  We open a persimmon seed to find the tree that stands in promise, pale, in the seed’s marrow.  Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes.  Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear in the ancient faith: what we need is here.  And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear.  What we need is here.”                                     —Wendell Berry