Welcome to Poetry Party #47!
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Scroll down and add your responses in the comments section below. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one) and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post)
Today is the Feast of St. Francis, the wonderful mystic who saw the wonder of God in all of creation. He is perhaps best known for his Canticle of the Sun where Francis expresses deep kinship with nature by regarding sun and moon, the four sacred elements, and even Death as siblings. On this day, many churches offer blessings to our companion animals as a way of honoring how integral they are to our lives. At 13-years old our rescued Weimaraner, Abbess Petunia, has been showing signs of her age. However she still offers me daily wisdom in learning how to simply be present to the truth of this moment. Part of the wisdom of creatures for me is in their sheer otherness and willingness to enter our lives with such exuberance.
I invite you for our Poetry Party this week to write an Ode to Animal Wisdom or your own Canticle of Creation!
51 Responses
Deep into her body, she stretches
Graceful paws reach forward,
Knead the blanket bright with sun.
She turns her face to the brilliant light
Feels the warmth on her face, her head, her back —
I could swear she is smiling.
Her whole body becomes a sigh
As she sinks deeply into the blanket folds
And rests.
You can tell me animals don’t know God,
You can tell me animals don’t pray.
But I know otherwise.
To Maggie
When did you learn
to open cupboard doors
with your teeth?
Ha!
I had to stare at the photo before I actually saw the paws! I often watch my sleeping dogs, feet moving as if running and I wonder where they are and what they see. ~Barb
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Wild-er-ful, wond-er-ness …
Your paws of exuberance frolic in other world.
I watch you slumber and imagine you hot on the trail of my next lesson
Which you will drop at my feet.
A message from your wanderings
A gift to chew and ingest.
Do others know you are the true sage?
Wild-er-ful, wond-er-ness.
Here is a poem about my favorite wise animal, the owl:
Wisdom and the Owl
When you tell me
I am wise
and praise me
in my presence,
I bow my head
and close my eyes.
I see the owl
sitting on its trainer’s arm
at the Cincinnati Zoo.
His name was Homer.
I followed him,
dragging our entire group
behind me.
When we stopped,
I stood and gazed,
eye to eye with Homer,
feeling something in my spirit
giving way.
When you tell me
I am wise
and praise me
in my presence,
I think of the owl, because
his trainer told us
owls are not very smart.
They are the hardest of all birds
to train.
Yet all over the world
they have become a symbol
of wisdom.
Why?
They have tiny brains
and are skittish
in their thinking.
But they can see at night.
Those two big eyes
pierce the darkness.
So when you tell me
I am wise
and you praise me
in my presence,
I think of Homer and myself.
We have less wisdom
than you know,
but our eyes see things
differently.
We share another light.
Because we look into the nighttime
and still see exactly what is there,
you are fooled into believing
that simply looking through our gifted eyes
has made us wise.
HT
We rescued our Westie about a year ago and his wisdom blows us away every day. He not only teaches us how to be more grateful for the joy in every single moment but he has inspired an entire writing career. I self-published “White Dog Haiku and Things I Learned from my Westie” on lulu.com. All proceeds from this book go to animal rescue. You can see a preview at http://www.lulu.com/product/lulustudio-photo-book/white-dog-haiku-and-things-ive-learned-from-my-westie/12304045
Since publishing the book, I’ve written hundreds more including:
White Dog laughs at myth
that dogs do not understand
he sees and knows all
and
White Dog shows the way
every moment of each day
much to celebrate
May we all be open to the wisdom of our animals in this and every moment.
Paws or acorns?
Stuff of life -chemicals and DNA –
combined in dizzying variety,
in unabandoned joy,
creating our world
out of the same few elements
tying every living thing
to its Maker.
I am the One who is your Teacher
I fly through the air and dream on the currents
I invite you into yourself
The One underneath all your feathers
oooh…. I love this one.
An Ode to the Old Ones
Ancient souls reside in animals
The Indians know those souls
They teach us many things
They show us how to walk, fly and swim in unquestioned faith in the Creator
Ancient souls reside in animals
Precious gifts unfold
As human heart’s learn lessons
through an animal’s love.
Good morning Christine! It is 5:30 AM where I live… I just got your invitation to the Poetry Party. Here are two offerings. The first one is a reflection on my recent walk in the deep woods of our Presbytery’s camp and conference center in search of their new labyrinth I did not find… however…
Chipmunk scampering
Through boulders and gathered leaves
Joy is on our way!
***
Crossed paws pray for me
Abandoned in your knowing
Present to the truth.
Martha Louise