Amongst the nettles and dock weeds
I kneel as if I am praying
And I am not saying I am worshipping this ground, these sods
But if I was to worship anything it would be this not any of those man made gods
I would make an altar to the grass around me
Make sacrifices to the trees I see
And the rushes yellowed with time
I cannot think of a better God to choose as mine
Than those limp leaves
Which have helped me breath
Given their own life for the next generation
That know their task, their duty, their station
I would worship the seeds that spread themselves to survive
The crumbled soil with beetles, ants and worms
So much that is alive
The flying insects
The birds who fly with such precision
Nature has no dilemma, it knows,
it has no indecision
This is real, this is life, this has breathe
This will hold me, this will reach me,
This will live with me
Only this can set me free
As I kneel among the dock weeds and nettles
I know that I can exist here
I can see nature big and small
This god that is omnipresent
This nature that surrounds us all
YES!
Such a spiritual, deep feeling to this. I love it
You're spoiling us Liz, this made me tear, such was the connection that I found, like Ivy, it slowly took me in its wrap , tighter until I could feel the earth's pulse. I felt the peace and comfort of familiar, the special place that's ours alone, most of us have an old bench in the park, a Wood, bit of shoreline. Your writing is as fab as I remember Liz but there's a different vibe, less full on , more reflective. deeper from the silence that sings I suspect, (mediative state between everyday consciousness and eastern practice , no Ommmmmms needed)
Beautiful. Very pantheism and very spiritual. A true religion t o which everyone can subscribe.
Without pursuing a theological discussion, as a retired Methodist minister, I agree with 95% of the substance of the poem, and 100% of the spirit of it! Great!