Carry This Feather, But Not Too Far

This meditation is based on an actual experience I had last evening while enjoying a leisurely walk: A young man went walking on a beautiful, breezy Autumn evening. Just before heading home, a small feather on the ground caught his eye, amidst the blowing leaves. He stopped, bent down, gave thanks to Creator for providing him the strength to enjoy such a beautiful walk, and for the bird whose feather the young man found laying on the ground. Once he had given thanks, a gentle voice spoke in the young man's heart:

"Carry this feather, but not too far; for soon another traveler will stop by here. That traveler, too, will benefit from the beauty of this feather which brother bird left behind." The young man stood, smiled, and carried the little feather which brother bird had given, until the young man reached the top of the hill. A gentle breeze blew. It was here that the young man stooped down and gently laid the feather back on the ground.

As we travel life's trail each day, may we embrace the beauty of all that Creator God has given to all that lives- the 2 legged, the 4 legged, the crawlers, the swimmers, and the flyers. May we walk with our hands open in such a way that what we freely receive, we freely give, with a pure heart.

-Zach Baker

October 2020

OPPOSITE

That which moves

Staying rooted to the spot

Is named plant

One can keep moving

While staying rooted

Like a plant

To stay rooted

Does not mean

Standstill

Guna Moran

https://twitter.com/GunaMoran

(Translated from Assamese by Bibekananda Choudhury)

YOU ARE MISSING

You are missing

In the joy of copulation

You are missing

In the ultimate achievement

You are absent

In the bed of death

You are absent

In the quest of entire life

You are missing

You are missing

-Guna Moran

https://twitter.com/GunaMoran

(Translated from Assamese by Bibekananda Choudhury)

A meditation on the creek that flows through Camp Mahonegon: Ellamore, West Virginia.

"Laughing Water"

Dance in her depths,

Cleansed by her sway.

She is steady, she desires to teach us

The mysteries which Creator breathed into her at the foundation of the world.

The trees cling by her shores, strong, sturdy.

The buck's rack grows, yet never too much to be weighed down to drink from this sacred source.

The she-deer, too, leads her young to drink.

Great Bear and Brother Wolf take rest beside her-with Mighty Hawk, after a long and toilsome journey down from Eagle Rock.

As the two and four legged, the flyers, creepers and swimmers rely on her for strength; she sings a hymn of the rain.

Her joyous laughter is in awe of the Creator;

She weeps at pollution and carelessness.

-Zach Baker