“These are the egg-shaped gourds
from the old homes
of our people a thousand years ago
and they are in my hand.
First, I introduce myself, the child
of the child of the old ones.
I listen to where they wish to live,
ask them about the birds they need,
the butterflies, insects when they blossom,
and sing them songs
people say are forgotten,
the words for placing them in the earth.
I promise to protect them
and paint the house as the old ones did
with the flowers, plants, even lizards,
birds and vines,
and I know, yes, there is renewal,
because this is what the seeds ask of us
with their own songs
when we listen to their small bundle of creation,
of a future rising from the ground,
climbing the fence.”

Ceremony for the Seeds from A History of Kindness by Linda Hogan

“My last word has to be gratitude, gratitude for being.. It is a harsh world, indescribably cruel. It is a gentle word, unbelievably beautiful. It is a world that can make us bitter, hateful, rapid destroyers of joy. It is a world that can draw forth tenderness from us, as we lean towards one another over broken gates. It is a world of monsters and saints, a mutilated world, but it is the only one we have been given. We should let it shock us not into hate or anxiety, but into unconditional love.”

Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything.”

Alan Watts (1915 – 1973), writer and philosopher

“The path of awakening and loving is a path without end. We cannot measure the worth of a single loving action, or the impact of a single caring gesture. We cannot know the results of a single meditation, or evaluate the learning we will derive by meeting a single difficulty with open-heartedness. When we connect with the precious richness of loving, caring, and connectedness, results fade in importance. We can only trust that the landscape we paint will be coloured by our love and care.”

John Kornfield and Christina Feldman, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection

“If we cannot lay aside the wound, then let us say it will not always bind us.
Let us say the damage will not eternally determine our path.
Let us say the line of our life will not always travel along the places we are torn.
Let us say that forgiveness can take some practice, can take some patience,
can take a long and struggling time.
Let us say that to offer the hardest blessing, we will need the deepest grace;
that to forgive the sharpest pain, we will need the fiercest love;
that to release the ancient ache, we will need new strength for every day.
Let us say the wound will not be our final home—
that through it runs a road, a way we would not have chosen
but on which we will finally see forgiveness,
so long practiced, coming toward us, shining with the joy so well deserved.”

From The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons by Jan Richardson

“Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else’s heart.”

Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992), born on this day

How to Be a Poet (to remind myself) by Wendell Berry

“Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill—more of each than you have—inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity. Any readers who like your poems, doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air. Shun electric wire. Communicate slowly. Live a three-dimensioned life; stay away from screens. Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in. There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence. Make the best you can of it. Of the little words that come out of the silence, like prayers prayed back to the one who prays, make a poem that does not disturb the silence from which it came.”

“Don’t tell me what you are against.
Tell me what you love.
What you cherish with your whole body.
Being against contracts the heart.
Being for opens the chest
like an orchid bending toward light.
Now is the time to depart from the kingdom of fear
and return to the palace of this human form.
One sweet dark nerve in your solar plexus
radiates a thousand times more power than any opinion.
Let this be your worship on a Sunday morning.
For a little while, don’t be against anything.
Only be for.
Be for the sun on the table.
Be for the late summer rose.
Be for tears and the laughter of children.
Wash the whole planet in the foolishness of God.”

Fred LaMotte

“Whether or not they contain the encapsulated wisdom of ages past, what is certain is that myths, fairy tales and folklore offer us a world imbued with participation mystique – a world in which humans are fully enmeshed. In this world, animals always have something to teach us, trees and plants can save or cure us, wise old men and women are waiting in the dark woods to help us, and a well may be a doorway to another world. Myths and folklore can put us back in touch with the seasons and turnings of the year, and they can restore our acceptance of the necessary cycles of life. They can also remind us that we have a responsibility to future generations, and to the planet as a whole. If we approach myth and story in non-human-centric ways, it places us more firmly into the wider life of the world: our personal story is enmeshed with a greater story of which we’re a part.”

From The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday by Sharon Blackie

“If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926), poet