BIRDSONG

RAVEN AT THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IN THE GARDEN

I spent the summer solstice 

Years ago

Working with my chisels on the stone.

I carved without an image

In my mind

Trusting like a swimmer in the sea

Who knows with every sinew, every breath,

That I or you or anybody else

Can meet somewhere

In leaning, listening mode, 

That form

That shape

That curve

Those many curves

Which simultaneously overlay.

No static image,

Only what recurs and reaches out and then recedes.

Our light and shadows play

Beyond what we perceive.

For we are in the stone and in the sea.

It is our heart that shapes and makes the curves

Tutored by the waves

And mystery.

Upon that solstice night 

I carved away

All excessive stone, unwanted rock,

And when the raven came

I just stood back,

Covered in dust,

And bowed,

In silence and in awe.

I still remain today in awe of him,

A giant bird who sat upon the wall,

Filling my sight, my heart, my work, my all,

With more than hope,

With certainty and 

I don't know truth

But I know truly this

That there is truth

And that is what he brings

May truth

In all its beauty

Come to you

This solstice

In the graceful raven's

Wing

Where is no fear

Just all-consuming awe

Core-warming

 Light-bathing

When you see him.

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Note

Raven flew from the arc to look for land for Moses before the doves set forth.

Raven brought bread and cheese for Elijah in his cave.

Raven brings practical help. 

I have chosen a photo of the stone that shows a kiss of evening light through Ken's very old white lilac tree on the cheek of the meditator, but there are many other images in the stone, mostly birds. They interlace like Celtic knotwork (as in the prayer-carpet pages of the books of Kells and Lindisfarne), as a stepping-in place, because no edge is an end, it is always a meeting place.

June 25, 2019.