Encountering Earth

  Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Prayer: Gratitude Is Eternal. (adapted from https://indiancountrytoday.com) As this day of Thanksgiving dawns, the words of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)  Thanksgiving Prayer can echo deeply within us. Beginning with all people and progressing to the Earth Mother, Grandmother Moon and Big Brother Sun, the prayer pays homage to everything that sustains us. It reminds us to take care of these things and through that, ourselves and each other. The address is very long. It is used not only for Thanksgiving Day but at Native gatherings. When the people gather, they begin with gratitude. “Today we get together to remind ourselves that we were given a responsibility to live in balance and harmony with one another and with all the living things of Mother Earth,” the prayer begins. “We think of the people we met and the ones we haven’t met as yet. We remember that all of the people who live on every part of Mother Earth are all connected, related and b...

 This morning I took a walk in Central Park which is close to my home. It is a "poetry" morning - I can see Haikus everywhere in the lowering clouds and trees giving forth their last bit of color. The feel is soft- warm; Fall wants to be gentle today until the rain comes in later. I walked past a few Sycamore trees and my eye caught the underside of a  huge leaf. I walked by. But then the leaf called out to me, "Come back, pay attention, I want to tell you something!" It is a huge leaf (20" across!) and I thought of the story it could tell, so I picked it up. The first story it told was about what we share in common. The veins in the leaf were so distinctive, they bulged up and fanned out. I looked at the back of my hand- my veins too are bulging as they fan out. A sign of aging hands. The leaf told a story of color - green and yellow had given way to brown. There is blessing in this process of budding leaf, to summer bright green, to Fall yellow. There is bles...

 Last weekend a friend of mine and I went to the Adirondacks. I haven't been there for a while, but it always feels like a homecoming, like visiting the house of an old friend. No matter what is happening in the world, Giant Mountain guards the Keene Valley, the Ausable River runs from the Lake under Route 73 and Chapel Pond is more glorious than any cathedral I have ever visited. We decided to hike from South Meadow to the Marcy Dam, which actually was wiped out by Hurricane Irene, but will always mark that spot which is the gateway to many of the high peaks. It is a very modest hike, but my friend is very patient and I am ecstatic to be hiking in the Adirondacks.  The path is really along a road of sorts. I say of sorts because it is probably just enough road to accommodate emergency vehicles and trail crews. The path is lined with woods - deciduous trees that have given up their leaves and sturdy conifers who stand in green hope all year long. The road is crisscrossed with ...