DIE

when I cross that river
in company of those who know the passage –
every earthly being gone before me

I’ll go in trust

of soil and starlight we were made
my breath and matter will be part of new and ever changing forms

but cry I will

the beauty of this world
the beauty of it all

GRIEVE

killer whales know how to sing with it
to tell the tales of desert depths beyond

elephants know how to softly dance 
around their many dead

and maybe wolfs have learnt to roam
the ruthless plains of absence

come walk that place with me  –
the wildest darkest edge of sorrow

we’re all undone

will be undone

by losses we will never heal alone

if ever

hold the cracks

come apart

and walk that place with me –
the wildest raging edge of grief

CARE

this seed I carry

this tree will grow

this child will remember the songs

this stream will quench my thirst

this sea will take me into her embrace

this star will guide our way

this sky will carry me into her dreams

this wind will nourish my heart

this land will feed us all

this yarrow will heal your wounds

this ground will hear our feet speak

this seed I carry

this tree will grow

this root will go deeper still

this child will remember the songs

LISTEN

sschhh…

listen

be still

breathe

schhh…

who’s here?

who might be?

SING

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DREAM

what if stones and mountains dream
so slowly slowly that we never notice?

(except that once we did – and some still do…)

and universes dream of complicated matter
full of contradicting detail

deep and vast the sleep between them

bats and slugs and jackdaws dream
sometimes of each other

enter dreaming
meet them halfway there

enter into
what is weaved of waves and stars and forests
held by earthworms or by oceanic currents
entangled with unfolding creatures
beginnings and returnings

practice falling

SLEEP

cuddled cozy close in caves and nest and dens or under stones or standing in the grass – like antelopes and horses – or hanging up and down in scintillating colonies of bats or tied in knots like earthworms during drought, leaning into whisperings of night and earth and sky, hearts beating calmer ,gentler, tuning out and tuning in; sleep moving lightly through us like a summer cloud, still and drifting still, slowly morphing getting lost

let go   

let be              

be lost               

let go

be with          

let go

MEND

In the beginning was Spider. 
She sat in the dark and imagined a strong thin thread of light, the length of an eternity. 
And then another one…
Patiently Spider started weaving, making up the stars and galaxies as she went along, spinning her web in space and time. 
Gloriously a universe began glowing in the dark. With each thread it grew larger and more intricate. 
Suddenly a strong wind came howling from the abyss, shattering most of Spider’s work. 
Where once were the web of gossamer threads now hang random gluey dusty clumps of strange matter. Comets were trashing about like teenagers in the expanse, causing further havoc.
Spider wept and wailed. 
For eons. 
But in her grief she grew wiser. 
And slowly, slowly Spider started to weave again; tying together what was torn apart. 
She used the same pattern where possible and different ones where necessary. She found out comets could be coaxed into elliptic trajectories. The clumps of dark matter was too sticky to get rid of and had to become part of her patchwork composition. 
After a while Spider found out Wind also had caused spacetime to twist. A lot of things had to be figured out anew.
At the best of her ability she was mending the universe.
She still is.
Maybe a new wind will come – or something else and even scarier. 
Nobody knows who or what can come from the abyss. 
But Spider now knows the cycles of both creation and destruction. 
She’s mending her world.

LOVE

I rest in awe 
sun playing in the leaves
flickering flames in feral green

living’s wild abundance

I don’t want to loose it all
but if we do
(we know we might)

still it would be there:

the gentlest strongest force
of living playing moving 

love

and maybe… 

there would be a party…

PLAY

who makes this magic?
who has this feeling of joy?  
who has this power of wonder? 

foxes laughing in the ticket
lynx juggling with a ball
macacques making pebble patterns
rats wrestling just for fun

giggling magpies in a game of dares
buzzards roller coasting in the wind
wordplay in the parliament of rooks
sparrows frolicking at dusk

seals honking, roaring with the waves
otters catching, kissing
a shoal of herrings passing for a whale
octopuses colouring the reef

saplings fingerplaying with the litter
and swaying with the breeze
fungi dreaming string games
leafy lichens fool around

genes jumping back and forth
quantum particles in hide and seek
the never ending jokes of shadows
and subtle ironies of spacetime

who makes this magic?
who has this feeling of joy?  
who has this power of wonder?

MOVE

•———->who has this motion? who has this feeling of love? who has this feeling I wonder, this feeling I wonder, this feeling I wonder

who has this motion? who has this power of love? who has this feeling I wonder, this feeling I wonder, this feeling I wonder

earth moves us
orbiting our feet

this is the song
this is the beat  

moon moves sky and sea
and we move with her

this is the song
this is the beat                       •——>

fire moves us
fiercely move with fire

this is the song
this is the beat  

water always flows
– be like water

this is the song
this is the beat  

leaves swing and rattle
– swing and rattle!

this is the song
this is the beat  

swell and swoop with
starling murmurations

this is the song
this is the beat                  •———->

dawn is dancing the horizon
feel the colours sway

this is the song
this is the beat  

the ugly the broken
the messy times we’re in

this is the song
this is the beat 

it’s all so urgent
we need to move slow

this is the song
this is the beat

move like a mountain
how would that be?

this is the song
this is the beat              •————>

these are the songs
here is the beat

these are the songs
here is the beat

GROW

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