Sky Sailors
I stopped my compulsive counting of the geese in the flocks that fly above me,
and instead admired their beauty.
I stopped foretelling the weather in these clouds that pass over me,
and instead enjoyed watching them sail.
I stopped thinking of those places where we don’t meet eye-to-eye,
and instead embraced those where we do.
Seek peace,
Paz
Color Of Winter
“How can we enact our Devine Comedy without the proverbial Village Idiot?
Who will play The Fool?”
“I will! I will!” I heard myself exclaim without hesitation. I jumped for joy to be working again.
To have a clearly defined roll within this cast of characters that is my life.
This grandiose and grand production.
This particularly ponderous performance.
This perfect play.
Seek peace,
Paz
Chuy’s Trail
There is something sacred in the deep, quiet wood.
There is an escape from this modern world.
Here, time is allowed to lapse at its own, unhurried pace.
“Act Now!” Order Today” “Don’t Miss Out!” ”While Supplies Last” “Limited Quantities Available”
The Open Wonder Woods
Here are the same things that have been here for a thousand years, five thousand, who knows, a hundred thousand? Bedrock and stone. Moving waters. The same trees grow each hundred years, and the same nuts fall every autumn. The inchworm climbs over the moss the same way he has since the last glacial recession opened new inchworm territory.
“New!” “Improved” “The Latest!” “Just Released” “Grand Opening” “Coming Soon”
Fungus Season
Looking down I see earth and dirt and sticks and humus and lichens and bugs and mushrooms.
The track of the White-tailed Deer, giant comic prints of the Wild Turkey, tiny footprints left by the passing field mice. Tracings of wings in the snow where a Barred Owl invited the mouse to lunch.
There is no concrete, no blacktop, no glass, no stainless steel, no copper wiring, no asphalt shingles.
“Whole-house Vinyl Siding Sale!” “Road Closed For Paving” “Custom Replacement Windows”
Morning Frost
There is a ringing in the trees. It is the four billion year old wind, transiting my wood for the four billionth time, each passing as sweet as the last. There is a ringing in the air. It is the caw of the crow, the screech of the jay, the honking of Canada Geese waving goodbye for the ten thousandth year in a row. There is a ringing in my spirit, giving birth to the song in my heart.
“Four Lines Just $100” “New I-phone Model X Available Now!” “Download The App” ‘Unlimited Data”
Glorious Blue
A dog chases a squirrel. An autumn leaf falls to the forest floor. A Catbird calls.
A man walks.
South Loop, January
And we are timeless in our serenity. We have loosed the bonds of modernity, however briefly.
Here, I linger.
Seek peace,
Paz
Sumac Sunrise
Every morning when I step out the door, I speak aloud a greeting to my dearest departed friend, my faithful canine companion of over 15 years.
It is a warm moment of remembrance, our bond as strong- or stronger- since parting.
As Chuy says, “The Circle must close. It is true for us all. It is simply so.”
This reminds me that every moment of every wonderous day is a gift to be opened and shared with the world.
That even after passing, the meaningful things in our earthbound life can remain meaningful.
It is not my inner light that illuminates my path.
It is the light I see in each and every individual and creature on this planet.
It is bright as the sun.
May peace find you always,
Paz
Inspired by posts at Thriving Under Pressure – www. drandreadinardo.com
I had a vision within a dream.
All the people of the world were gathered and placed on a giant, flat disk. It is incomprehensibly large, perfectly round, and entirely devoid of features.
Like a huge Frisbee, the disk floated in space, filled with the population of Earth.
The disk faced away from the sun, and like the dark side of the moon, we were all in total darkness.
In the vacuum of space, no sound carried. There was no speech. There were no languages. No language barriers. We could not know if the one beside us was from our own homeland, or some place entirely foreign to us.
We were naked in the silent darkness. There were no well-earned three-piece suits strolling past an undeserved and unearned raiment of rags, uniform of the destitute. We could not know if the one beside us was rich or poor.
There were no features on the disk. There was no higher ground. There was no Knob Hill. There were no gutters. We were all on even ground. There was no hill to take or line to hold, and no armies to do so.
Without an inch of room, there could be no separation, no segregation. No slums or ghettos or prisons.
We stood, shoulder to shoulder, beside one another. And all we could know was that some were shorter and some taller. Some seemed younger, and others seemed older. Some were quite plump, and some skinny as rails. In the darkness, there was no white or brown or yellow or red. Just people.
Looking outward, from darkness into darkness, we were stricken with fear. Our fears could not be shared. No voices to cry out. No light to see the anguish in faces. Bit by bit, we began to feel it. We could feel the trembling of all the world, shaking in terror.
Then we could feel a shift, as some fell to their knees and began to pray. Others prostrated themselves, and others stood and nodded as they prayed. Others stretched their arms outward and looked into the unknown as they sought peace with the universe.
From distant space, a meteor struck the disk and rocked it. The violent collision turned the disk ever-so-slightly, just enough to illuminate a single child, just a baby, wrapped in swaddling, as it fell from the edge of the disk. Out into the vastness of the Cosmos. Alone.
Without hesitation, all the world shifted to move the disk back into place. The strongest worked the hardest, and the weakest expended their last ounce of strength. Clasping hands, a human chain formed. Without regard for their own safety, the chain stretched and reached for the drifting lost child. In a single, silent thrust the chain grasped the child and held mightily, and with the greatest of efforts the child was drawn in, back to the fold, and the population of the world was one again.
And then a hand grasped a hand. Then that grasped another. Then another and another and another until all the world was hand in hand.
Then, like magic, we all knew. We knew we were all of different colors and languages and religions and walks of life. Yet in the silent darkness we were all the same. In the fear-filled void, we were all equal.
There were no lands to fight for. No fields to farm or factories to fill. There was absolutely nothing else to be done.
And so, we held one another.
Seek peace,
Paz
Liberty is at the core, the very founding of this nation.
We failed, as a species, for many years in this area.
Enslaving humans, treating women as second-class citizens that could not own property or vote.
Segregating children by the color of their skin, not seeing the content of their character, as Dr. King admonished.
Mistreating and abusing people because of their religious affiliation or gender orientation.
Times changed. No more slavery. No more second-class genders. Free to be me.
Somewhere in the fight for “me”, it seems we forgot about “you”.
In our quests to be our best and truest selves, focus turned inward. I can do this, and no one can stop me. I can believe this. I can say that.
Hip-hooray for all this embracing liberty, but can’t we bring civility along?
There was a time when people took pride in their appearance. They didn’t come to work looking like they are ready to go to the rodeo, the gym, or the beach. We dress down, “because I can”. But how about dressing nicely just ’cause it’s…well, nice?
There was a time when people kept their opinions to themselves sometimes. To avoid offense. To show respect. I will be the first in line to defend your right to free speech. But can’t we sometimes exercise our right to be quiet?
There was a time when rudeness was considered rude. When apologies were in vogue. There was a time when an apology was so serious it took on the words “I beg your pardon.“.
There was a time when people could see beyond their own skin. When people realized we are all cut from the same cloth. We are kindred. We are the same inside. We all feel and wish and dream the same. We can all be hurt and insulted. We all wish for happiness and comfort.
“Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.”
Let the other guy go ahead of you in the checkout or on the on ramp.
Hold the door for someone.
How about “May I have a cheeseburger, please?” instead of “Gimme a cheeseburger and a super-sized Coke.”
How about waiting patiently, like your mother taught you, when the person in line counts change or buys lottery tickets or does whatever else they do while we wait in line behind them?
Suppose young people treated adults with respect? Suppose adults showed the same respect for young people?
Suppose, instead of tolerance, we could teach the generations to come to move beyond that?
Beyond “mainstreaming” and “inclusion”. Beyond mandates that command us to treat one another with respect.
A long time ago, a wise man gave us this entire lesson wrapped in a single sentence.
“So as you do unto these, the least of my brethren, you do unto me.”
So here’s to liberty. Here’s to freedom. Here’s to celebrating your own uniqueness in the world. You celebrate you, and I will celebrate you.
I ask only that you don’t forget about him and her and the other one and me. We’re out here. Outside your skin.
Wouldn’t you love to celebrate being the most courteous person you know? I sure would!
One last thing. There are instructions for this respect and consideration stuff. Write it down if you need to.
“Love one another.”.
Evan Defies Gravity
Seek peace (and manners),
Paz
“Ever since the days of old
Men would search for wealth untold.
They’d dig for silver, and for gold,
And leave the empty holes.
And way down south in The Everglades,
Where the black water rolls and the sawgrass waves,
the eagles fly and the otters play
In the land of The Seminole.”
John Anderson’s song ran through my head constantly as we traveled the roads outside of Ocala, Florida.
Off to our right, pastures of green. Grazing dairy cows, playful galloping horses. Ancient Live Oak trees spread their limbs and shade all below, adorned and festooned with Spanish Moss. Orange trees and Crepe Myrtle.
Bisecting the Ocala National forest, one can see what this land once looked like. Sand and pines, low-growing palms, the ground dotted with piles made by Gopher Tortoises, making their nests in the warm earth.
In the rear view mirror, “The Villages”. Vast, expansive new communities developing as quickly as houses can be built. Replete with shopping centers, medical arts buildings, recreation centers. Concrete and asphalt, steel and glass, power lines, signs, lights and traffic spewing forth clouds of carbon monoxide.
“Don’t they look so nice and new?” my companions cackle. I purse my lips and swallow hard and keep my thoughts to myself out of some misshapen sense of civility.
“Progress came, and took its toll,
And in the name of flood control
They made their plans and they drained the land.
Now the ‘glades are going dry.”
The River of Grass. The Everglades. The largest freshwater delta in the world. The porous limestone aquifer, barely a few feet above the level of the sea, filters water beneath the ground, and it spews forth by the billions of gallons. At Silver Springs State Park we see the inverted Niagara. A vent pouring out millions of gallons of crystal clear water. “The volume produced,” said Captain Christopher, piloting our silent, electric glass-bottom boat, “could fill four Olympic swimming pools per minute.” Water so pure you can see the ancient river bottom thirty feet below without distortion or darkness. A Gar passes beneath, four feet long and a quarter of it the snout. An Anhinga swims by below, chasing after lunch.
A sign warns us not to feed or approach the Rhesus Monkeys. If scratched or bitten we’re required to call the CDC immediately. Some well-meaning naturalist, or showman, or perhaps a little of both, brought the monkeys to the park for the viewing pleasure of the public. Released on an island, they were thought to be contained. Little did they know, monkeys are agile and fearless swimmers. Now they roam throughout the park and the adjacent lands beyond. They’ve done well establishing themselves on a foreign continent, as well as the Burmese Python, inadvertently introduced as released pets.
The Florida Panther, a sleek cat occupying the swamp for millennia, is now a threatened species due to human encroachment and over-hunting of the past. Less than 200 individuals left in the wild, and losing habitat daily.
“And the last time I walked in the swamp
I stood up on a Cypress stump.
I listened close and I heard the ghost
Of Osceola cry.”
I looked at the beauty and diversity of nature here in this one-of-a-kind place, and looked out the other window at the world of humans. Chasing money. Everything has a price. I imagined what this place must have looked like only a few hundred years ago.
“So blow, blow Seminole wind.
Blow like you’re never gonna blow again.
I’m calling to you like a long-lost friend,
But I know who you are.
Blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy.
Blow across the home of the Seminole,
the alligator and the gar.”
I thought of the Seminole and all the other original inhabitants as they watched the destruction of their Eden.
I hung my head in sorrow. I apologized to Osceola and his people. To the panther. To the world at large. On behalf of all those short-sighted and misguided beings that have come before me. Again, ashamed to be human, who now can do nothing but cry.
If ever you enter the swamps and ‘glades, find a quiet place, you may hear the cries of two men mourning for those things that can never be reversed, returned or replaced.
It is Osceola and I.
Seek peace,
Paz
Sunrise Buck
When I was a young fool and thought I knew everything,
I had something to say to everyone,
and an opinion, a position, on everything.
Now that I am an old fool I realize how little I know.
And I am reticent.
Why waste my breath on incessantly babbling young fools?
Seek peace,
Paz
The learned Bruno
How much greater would you know the tiny seed,
the quaking grass, if it were all the world?
Consider the sparrow,
and how much greater is his knowledge than your own.
Only then will you go forth
with a true appreciation for this world, this life.
All of its fragile beings.
Seek peace,
Paz
It began with an untimely death. I turned to find, lying on the floor of the warehouse, a European Starling, still and lifeless. It had been the holiday weekend, where in the United States we celebrate the life and mourn the tragic loss of one of America’s greatest heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The evidence was everywhere, on the floor. Telling the tale in clues that could be read easily by the most amateur sleuth. She’d probably entered on Friday, when crews were unloading trucks after a long week. Doing so in the brutal, bitter cold of a January day that would see temperatures below zero. In and out through the overhead doors, then a quick walk-through locking up. Set the alarm and they were bound for the long weekend, Monday a holiday. Unbeknownst to them, the Starling would be locked in.
Here the signs showed where she flew to the transom windows out front and perched. Looking out on a world that, perhaps, she was glad to be spared from. Single digit temperatures and double-digit winds conspired to drive temperatures, with wind chill, to twenty-five below zero over the weekend.
Here she perched on the iron I-beam as she peered out through the windows of the rear overhead door of the loading dock. Here she flew into the paint room, landed atop a piece of pipework, and looked out the six-light of the huge antique door. Out onto the stacks of pallets at the back of our building. This is our meeting place. Where I call with a whistle for my following of sparrows, and remind them that “Everyone is welcome!”. I call out to the crows, watch the Juncos now in winter, the mockingbird, the blue jays, as I shred and share a couple of slices of bread each morning and noon.
This is no doubt where Starling and I had met before. Where for the last decade, I have come to love their comical movement, their social graces, sharing with one another, with other birds. While the polite sparrows sit and nibble with elegant manners, starlings run about, stacking bits of bread in their beaks before flying off. Starlings are beautiful birds. Striking plumage in streaks and stripes, iridescent black echoing every color of the rainbow.
She was not in danger of slamming herself against the glass, as last year I went to each window in the place and added translucent stripes to make it visible to birds. Collide-Escape is the product I used, after watching, of all things, a starling knock itself nearly unconscious trying to fly through the sparkling clean portal. Dazed, he stood there on the warehouse floor as humans walked past. I brought him outside and set him down on his tiny feet on the front dock, in the shade. Twenty minutes later, he would fly off, hopefully good as ever.
Now, Tuesday morning, she lay dead on the floor. Three days locked within. I felt responsible for the death. In odd, gripping moments this would wash over me, as I reminded the child within of all those grownup things that are said at a time like this. Everything must die one day. It was an accident. It’s not your fault. One of so many starlings, how could she be missed? Nothing relieved my childish mourning for the tiny helpless creature. A creature that would now be alive if not for me, and mankind’s intrusion on her natural world.
I walked solemnly outside with the little corpse. Carried her, slowly and gently, to the brush line out back. The closest thing to natural and nature I could find for her. I placed her on a limb. A practice we call (pardon the outdated phrase) an “Indian Burial”. Here now she would return to the Earth from which her life sprang to begin with. She may become a welcome meal for a hungry scavenger, or perhaps decay and decompose there, mingling with the grass and the dust of terra firma.
I could not stop myself from returning to the back window. I consciously avoided looking directly at the place where she was enshrined. If still there, the little body would sadden me. If she was gone…somehow it seemed that would sadden me, too. As I looked out the window, the sky dimmed. Shooting over my head and then in front of my window, a dark cloud of a thousand starlings swarmed. A swiftly moving organic overcast. Darting this way and that in one gigantic choreographed ball of birds. They lighted in a tree at the edge of the back lot. I thought of a crow’s funeral. How crows will gather quietly at a place where one of theirs has fallen. They would not act like the gregarious, cackling mobs of their reputation, but would perch in reverence, one by one flying off in silence.
It was then I saw the Cooper’s Hawk, perched in an adjacent tree. On the hunt, looking for a meal. Another swirling flock transited the sky, and behind it, the hawk leaped into the air. With zig-zagging aerobatics, he charged into the black mass. A twist, a turn, a swoop, a dive, the incredibly agile bird flew through the frigid air. The hawk returned to the tree empty-handed, awaited the next opportunity. It was so cold outside, I thought, to fly so quickly through the air. It must be uncomfortable, to say the least, yet there was no choice if a hawk wanted to survive. To live. To thrive in this natural state. Conflicting thoughts slapped at me from either side of my brain. Oh, the poor starlings. I didn’t want to witness another killed today. Yet, there is the hawk, an equally admirable and well-liked avian friend. I did not want to hasten his demise either.
The thoughts would swirl around my aged and feeble brain for days. Perhaps I would find a place to leave a dish of water, in the event this scenario were repeated. Perhaps I could make some kind of hatch that would open to allow a trapped bird to escape. I still can’t stop thinking of the Starling, looking out the window at freedom. So close, and yet denied. The vertical Collide-Escape stripes on the windows looking like prison bars.
Another flock of starlings headed for the Gathering Tree. The hawk was airborne again.
“Everyone is welcome.” My heartfelt mantra seemed simplistic and shallow. I’m feeding the feral cat with a small dish, situated just thirty feet from the pallet pile that serves as dining table for the sparrows. How do those things reconcile?
There are no rules for such things. Cats will eat the sparrows. Hawks will eat the starlings. The cat lives and the hawk lives and the starlings live with this knowledge. I am trying to bring myself closer to their world. A world not bound by emotional ramblings and Disneyesque fantasy. Then I realize that I can be this me, and feel these things, and mourn for the starlings while cheering for the hawk. Really quite simple, if you don’t overthink it.
Everyone is welcome.
I guess that includes the sentimental, childish man who will give Indian burials to dead birds, feed feral cats, and feel sorry for the hawk in the cold.
We are, truly, all in this together.
Bath Time For Starlings
Seek peace,
Paz
