The Waters

The Waters

In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void,
and darkness lay over the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters.
And God said,
"Let there be light!"
--Gen.1:1

Sunlight sparkling on the waters
recalls to me the original moment
of Creation; the first Word spoken.

When the waters are a calm, clear mirror
spreading unbroken to the horizon,
and everything in earth and heaven
is caught, reflected on their surface,
then I can almost see his face.

And when the wind blows over the waters,
creating a sparkling field of diamonds,
spreading ripples in all directions,
their infinite fields of interconnection
reveal of the tracings of his hand,
the intricate patterns of his mind,
oft-hid, now openly-displayed
where the wind and sunlight play.
I can only stand amazed…

As I continue on my journey,
this lifelong odyssey,
breathe your breath of life into me;
open and heal these eyes to see
the great and unbroken Unity.
Fill in the empty spaces in me,
my mind, my entire reality,
until I can see your face more clearly,
mirrored still more faithfully
upon the shining face of the sea,
in the beauty of a mountain stream,
in the River of Life which flows through me
and all of the living world around me.
And may your glory be revealed
in all that's good and free and wild;
in the shining eyes of a little child,
in the glory of a loved one's smile.

And may I even ask the grace
to be able to see the original face
I had when you first conceived of me;
show me my true identity!

Morro Morning

Morning comes softly over these waters
embraced by the beautiful land all around me;
these green velvet hills and rolling dunes
washed lemon yellow in dawn's early rays,
pouring like mercy's unending stream
between the gaps in the eastern mountains.

The colors of day slowly awaken;
the world is a shifting pastel palette,
wind, cloud, and fog sifting the sunlight
falling upon this silvery membrane,
this bright fluid mirror reflecting each ripple
of diving bird or splashing otter;
each feathery footprint left by the breeze,
the image of every sail and wing
which glides above it; everything
reflected upward for Heaven's eye,
the Creator's admiration, and mine.

--Surely he made and called all these "good",
and has not grown weary of making new mornings,
of ever-repainting this bright, living canvas;
nor have these elements ever grown dull
to his touch, nor these waters unresponsive
to the hoverings of his creative Spirit,
the Wisdom of his life-giving Word,
sounding forth again (I hear it!)
"Let there be light!"

Morro Rock, our western Gilbraltar,
slowly rises out of the sea-mist,
a rough-edged diamond brilliant with morning,
facets aglow with the new-kindled fire
which burns away the lingering shroud.
Fire strikes water; there is a stirring,
life rising up in long, ragged streamers,
swift-beating wings in V-formations
over the dunes and mirrory waters.
Gulls ascend in widening spirals;
ducks and shorebirds wheel in the sunlight;
white-winged egrets and great blue herons
spear so gracefully for the shallows
to wade and watch for their slippery quarry..

So does every creature move in some Wisdom
embedded in bone, in beak and feather,
unfolding design in pattern and color,
rhythm and form, this ongoing painting,
the Song of Creation, the Word and the Image
received in the earth, these bright living waters
bearing his seed, his manifest splendor.

And I am reborn in the midst of this morning,
full of its colors; I, too, an artist.

Wonder

Innocent awakening,
mist upon the lake
rising with the sun,
Creation rebegun.

Fresh from the Dream,
all the colors gleam
wreathed in evergreen
rising out of silver.

Milky waters like
like newborn eyes
mirroring the sky
in liquid wonder.

Forming

The lake lies still
in virgin morning,
milky mist gently rolling
off the waters, mirrored silver,
tinted rose, purple, amber;
colors of beginnings,
very breath of Being
forming and revealing
trees and birds,
mountains, falls,
all the varied thoughts of God.

The First Hour

I sit and meditate
in that first hour of morning
when no wind stirs, no engine roars,
no jet passes overhead;
when the first feathered angels
lift their songs to heaven,
the world breathes free again,
and all things are reborn
as what they really are,
nearer to the image
in which each one was formed,
the living Word; the hour
when Truth reveals
its radiant soul
in Beauty.

Genesis

Hosts of unseen angels
plucking hidden strings;
particle-wave interchanging
song-seed energy vibrations,
cosmic music of the Word
becoming light and color,
sound and form;
electron, proton, neutron,
atom, matter, element,
star and galaxy and planet,
organism, biosphere,
you and I speaking here…
the never-ending dawn
of what we are.

Loons on a Lake

Flickering phantom-silhuoettes,
long-necked shadows weaving gracefully
through fluid fields of sparkling diamonds,
gliding through seas of shimmering starfire,
rippling radiant haloes,
now diving, disappearing,
leaving gleaming trails in the wake of their passage;
suddenly vanishing in bright, silent implosions,
plunging through the curvatures of hidden innerspaces.
The spinning galaxies are slowly extinguished
as the countless stars subside into peaceful silver-blue
as if they'd never been, and the shadows never were.

Creation pauses;
eons pass in seconds…

A fierce exploding brilliance,
wings breaking surface,
a wild, haunting cry.
The shadows reappear,
gracefully gliding over the waters,
flickering, ephemeral, yet tangible,
spreading forth galaxies,
swimming through nebulae,
rippling bright haloes to the shoreline.

Creation continues:
I have seen!

Infinite

I pause now to consider
how these shining waters
reveal all things above, below,
in the earth and in the sky,
if any has the eye
to read the secret alphabet
which the wind describes:
The intricate cross-hatchings
of tiny wavelet-ripples
pulsing toward the riverbank,
equally reflected back
to meet those coming in;
fluid geometric rhythms,
patterns without beginning
or end…

Shimmering infinities,
rhythmic-clashing symmetries
mirroring so faithfully
the spirits of the sky.

And I contemplate
how each stone is speckled
in shadow and light;
how each one is like
a separate painting,
its own color-palette world.
And I delight
in the endless shades of green
and yellow in the trees,
the sheer variety,
the multitude of leaves
flashing over me:
near-infinity.
Yet, if any one of these
falls,
you know of it.

Infinite…
shadow upon shadow,
light upon light,
these interwoven, delicate
miracles flashing
in the sun and wind;
these stones, these ripples,
this Creation without end!

Variations

A million trees, a billion leaves;
temporal infinity, three-dimensionality,
the one design multiplied
through countless variations,
infinite mutations
of the singularity;

God's Creation,
wild profusion without end,
yet finally merging
all in him.

Virgin, Sea, and Sky

Pelicans glide on invisible rays,
swiftly, silently skimming the waves.
Hovering terns quick-plummet and splash
their silvery skin with a rippling flash.
Bright, holy energies pierce the opaque,
waters astir with great powers awake;
A radiant sun sinks deep in the earth,
awaiting the dawn, the moment of birth.

Blue virgin sky, wings in the sun,
hovering near, so softly they come,
Shining, descending bright from above,
bearing the seed of an infinite Love.
Clear liquid eyes with wonder amazed,
a fluttering heart, a rapt, breathless gaze;
The spirit within falls open to All;
a daughter of earth consents to her call…
"Be it done unto me according to thy word."

Sunbeam Waters

Evening waters
perfect in stillness;
singular mirror
reflecting the brightness
of clear summer sky
at the moment of sunset.

One radiant beam
of pure liquid fire
flows from the sun,
igniting the waters;
a luminous stream
shining unbroken,
sending forth ripples
unto the shoreline,

flooding my eyes
with unbearable

glory.

Alchemy

Rippling waters violet-burning,
turquoise and silver, fiery diamond,
amethyst, emerald, sapphire, ruby
swirling, merging, a luminous bloodstream
pumped from the heart of the blazing sunset.

Lead become gold, that alchemy
where water and lifeblood mingled together
are changed into wine within earthen vessels;
beauty for ashes, comfort for mourning,
his life for mine, a balm ever-flowing.

You Are…

You are…
the burning in fire,
the clearness of water,
the radiance of light,
the warmth of the sun,
the soul of each atom.

You are…
the rush of the wind,
the voice of the thunder,
the music of rainfall,
the silence of snowfall,
the song of the songbird.

You are…
the fragrance of pine trees,
the softness of springtime,
the colors of autumn,
the glory of dawn,
the beauty of sunset.

You are…
the life in the breath,
the knowing of mind,
the essence of being,
the love between lovers,
the song in my heart.