Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
placed solid, by hands
In choice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
in space and time;
Solidity of bark, leaf or wall
riprap of things;
Cobble of milky way,
straying planets,
These poems, people,
lost ponies with
Dragging saddles – –
and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like an endless
four-dimensional
Game of Go.
ants and pebbles
In the thin loam, each rock a word
a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.
~ “Riprap” by Gary Snyder
“Live in each season as it passes;
breathe the air, drink the drink,
taste the fruit, and resign yourself
to the influence of each.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
“Keep close to Nature’s heart…
and break clear away, once in awhile,
and climb a mountain
or spend a week in the woods.
Wash your spirit clean.”
~ John Muir
