"Ah, not to be cut off,
not through the slightest partition
shut out from the law of the stars.
The inner -- what is it?
if not intensified sky,
hurled through with birds and deep
with the winds of homecoming."
- Rilke
Tonight Paula and I grilled some steaks and ate dinner on lawn chairs, looking out at the sunset. We listened to the birds and tried to describe their calls to each other. We watched them fly in from across the valley and swoop with a practiced ease straight to our bird feeders. (We then ran inside because a swarm of beetles appeared out of nowhere, but I digress.)
In these last few months of near constant work stress, I've took solace by studying the stars and constellations. Together, Paula and I have spent beetle-free nights looking up with binoculars, trying to spot the patterns. We've found Arcturus and Spica and Virgo and Bootes.
There's a deep soulful consolation in connecting with the birds and the sky. There's an expanding peace about it. The outer connects and calms my inner. My muddled mind clears as it reflects itself in the natural, in the spirit, in the moment.
Posted by timothy at June 20, 2002 09:30 PM | TrackBack