For A Few Minutes

It was a slow sunset over Palestine.

Descent of fire and rising of shadows.

Red as red. The Orange. Floating riveting calm fiery expansive

Orange keeps away  evil spirits…for a little while

It will melt away into magenta grey blue black and stars  and moonlight

Why can we stare at the sun when it seems so close and big?

What tames our fire at dusk?

Why is it that only before the darkness we can look directly in to the source?

I’d rather ponder the metaphors than know the science

Villages appear as light  pinholes poked  into the mystery

One  now two now many.

West  the light muted color show rapidly and slowly evolves into extinction

Olive Green hills on the North fading

Brown rocky wisdom spikes to the South soften

Maybe seven layers of slope converge

The beauty of ruggedness deepens at dusk.

And this land is rugged

As are her people rugged and deep

This western valley as viewed from this Eastern crest

Is the most perfect canvas for this daily world wide display

That brings perfection of solitude

Yes. The beauty of ruggedness deepens at dusk.

I close my eyes to better attenuate to the wind’s touch and song.

The gift  Blindness brings.  Is understood.

But even a blind person need open their heart and mind.

And look.

Friends that brought me hear are but a breath away

Also alone, silently gazing, feeling, being full, and being together.

They come every day and I know why.

Each of them has been beaten, or tortured,  jailed, or seen ugly  death.

Once, twice, or many

Unexpectedly, unnecessarily, innocent yet accused

Tear gassed. Shot. Crumbled.  And gotten back up.

They come here. To this hilltop. This vantage. This stillness.

This timelessness. This totality in a whisper.

For a few minutes the entirety of life is lived.

For a few minutes every sense is grateful for this life.

For a few minutes our solitude is our greatest solace and companion.

For a few minutes our joy surpasses our grief.

For a few minutes we see the wonder and awe of God unscathed.

We know we are all chosen.

For a few minutes we believe and live in peace.

For a few minutes.

A quick little aside about Charlottesville

Charlottesville White Supremacists: We are not racist! We just don’t want to be replaced. We, white, able -bodied, “Christian” Americans,  who replaced all native cultures on this land of USA, hereby decree our right to not be replaced. Alongside our deeply seated guilt that not only did we replace, we are deeply fearful that someone will now replace us.  Never mind that we are completely confused about who we fear that might be. But whoever they may be, they are obviously vastly more powerful then we are, or they would not pose a threat. And as far as being racist toward blacks, we are not, thank God. After all. It was on the backs of the black people our white southern culture was built.  Heaven forbid we would call ourselves racist as we fight to keep our rightful place on this land.  Please world, listen to our innocence. Please omnipotent God listen to us as we unwittingly display our impotence. We have civil rights too. The right to proclaim our right to be here as a right just like the right of everyone else who has rights but just not as much as our right to be right. Or else we are in deep shit to take a little responsibility for our history.

Charlottesville,  thank you(?) for helping peel back the festering wounds of our heritage. We are incredibly sorry more deaths occurred in this process. Thank you for helping us realize that to move forward as a nation, we must confront, acknowledge, and reconcile the sins of our past. We can and must end a cycle of guilt, fear, and confusion that erupts in fearful public displays of hate disguised as innocent acts of self defense or revelries of superiority that kill. That it is now necessary to recognize the violent nature of our birth. Thank you for exposing the debt of gratitude we owe those who were here before us. The native cultures we fought, and still fight, to dehumanize. To those we forcibly brought here to do the work we did not want to do ourselves. That yes, even though our founding fathers held slaves, it was not humane or right for them to do so. We are caught in the midst of our own evolution. We consciously opt for the tipping point of courage and acknowledgement. We all participate every day in small decisions that make our collective whole. What we read, who we listen to, including the small voices of prejudice in each of our heads, matters. We confront our own prejudices now, knowing that many of us, in our desire to be good people, have pretended that they don’t speak. But they do. About anyone “different” than “us”. So now we listen. We stop fearing our own selves. We stop and think. Who taught me this? What is my truth? What do I honestly stand for without the pretense or burden of having to be “good”?  Am I holding a light or eclipsing one? We all love to pretend in our own innocence. But only children have innocence, and they are in the care of those of us making the decisions. Watching our every move. MOVE MOVE MOVE!!! WE ARE MOVING FORWARD TO GREATER LIGHT. LET OUR SHADOWS BECOME COOL PLACES OF REST.

Dance Wildly. Pray Wildly. Listen Wildly.  Oh My God, we must.