forgive me

forgive me
if i seem
obsessed

with silences
and forests
and snowy limbs….

entranced by visions
of trees
overarching….

forgive me if
grief and joy live side by side
in this altar, my heart….

forgive me if i forget
momentarily that mistletoe
festoons dying branches….

adorns them
with evergreenery
and white berries….

forgive me if i yearn
with all my heart
for this snowy silence….

for midnight
in the forest—
and i don’t know where the moon is….

•

though icy storms whistle
sometimes, through
night and forest --

every sparkling dawn
silence reigns,
powerful….

snow wraps the trees
in secret delight:
they dance invisibly….

here, the soul of
the world, unavoidable –
here, our insignificance….

here, our equality
with grub, with fallen log, with bear….
with eagle, with quivering leaf, with frozen stream….

here, powerless, hairless, weaponless,
the silence invites
our grief, fear --

welcome friend, to infinity….
to vastness unimaginable….
to love unmatchable….

this is the place
where god whispers….
and where i realize

that the answer
to all of my problems
is thank you….

•

forgive me friend,
if i go on about joy --
it’s all i can do
to keep dancing…..

________________
©2011
beth anne boardman





(header photo courtesy and ©2011 micheal gertje)

(footer photo ©2011 beth anne boardman)