(Reposted from September, revised)
.
When we raised our heads
Gaia, Detail (Photo credit: Artful Danni)
the sky broke through
and we saw God.
We stood on stilts
and remembered our names.
But then we saw gashes
in the garden below
and heel marks
from heavy boots.
We saw wolves and coyote
pacing around us,
watching our eyes.
And we threw off our stilts
and danced around fire
till Gaia was smooth and warm –
and in the circle of creatures
we remembered their names.
.
(c) 1995, 2012 Betty Hayes Albright
Seasonings 
Betty! This is wonderful. To see God through the naked sky and nature is as close as we can get in this world to The Divine, for the sky’s the limit for such inspiration. And your mention of coyote stirred an especially fearful sentiment in me, having narrowly escaped a coyote attack a few months ago. That’s right, I will never forget the name: coyote.
LikeLike
Peter, sorry to hear about your bad experience with the coyote! I’m sure the very word makes your hair stand on end – sorry about that! But thank you for understanding the poem, and your thoughtful comment. 🙂
LikeLike
Wow–I can’t say anything quite as impacting as the gentleman above, but Betty, it IS Good!!
LikeLike
Thank you, Sister of the Sea Caddo! 🙂
LikeLike
Absolutely beautiful and I love the sentiments expressed here, not that Man is totally dominant but a true part of ‘creation’. And that the earth itself has a name, and is alive.
LikeLike
The rite of spring?
LikeLike
Partly that, Grandfathersky – but more about the rites (rights?) of all-life, and feeling the sacredness of nature – in all seasons. 🙂
LikeLike
A nice creation.
LikeLike
Thank you, Ben! 🙂 (It’s an older poem, but the subject is one I feel strongly about…)
LikeLike
I just love your Gaia poems! I danced with you around that fire and saw the threatening signs all smoothed out for my day ahead. Bless you, dear, dear Betty! Such a treasure you are in my blogging world!
LikeLike
Thanks so much, Granbee. Glad you were dancing with me around that fire. 🙂 (Sorry, I’m behind in my blog reading – will try to read YOUR latest today!)
LikeLike
this is brilliant , I can see ( picture) what you write and you write so well. Please what is Gaia you have mentioned it before!
LikeLike
Thank you, Willow! 🙂
Gaia is another name for the sacredness and aliveness of “mother earth”, “mother nature”, etc. (Wikipedia might have a more complete explanation.)
LikeLike
Thank you , yes sorry I was being lazy! 😉
LikeLike
Don’t be sorry – I need to research it a little more myself!! (I’m the lazy one. 🙂 )
LikeLike
🙂 Love it!
LikeLike
Thanks, Martin! 😀
LikeLike
Wonderful poem during this time of spring…the open three lines are just brilliant.
LikeLike
Thanks for such a nice comment, Charlie! 🙂
LikeLike
I think you are at your very best, which is very, very good indeed, Betty, when you start dancing with ancient themes and meanings. To me this is a strong, strong poem. It echoes through cultures and the stories of cultures that have been around since poetry was completely verbal and mostly told around campfires with rhythm and rhyme to help with memorization.
The first three lines:
When we raised our heads
the sky broke through
and we saw God.
The act of the sky breaking through us when we raised our heads, an act of seeing, caused us to see God. This led us to stand on stilts, above the crowd, and remember our names. We remember who we are in relationship to ourselves and God.
But then we saw gashes
in the garden below
and heel marks
from heavy boots.
Imperfections in the Garden? The Garden of Eden?
We saw wolves and coyote
pacing around us,
watching our eyes.
The wolf as a symbol of wildness and the unity and power of the pack–an ancient human fear. The coyote as the trickster, sly one, the card in the deck that turns the world upside down, teaching powerful lessons that sometimes would be better untaught…
Then, of course, the ancient dream of humankind:
we threw off our stilts
and danced around fire
till Gaia was smooth and warm –
and in the circle of creatures
we remembered their names.
The revelation that upon our stilts inside our world we are out of the circle, ignorant of Gaia, far away from where the lion lies down with the lamb. Only when we join the circle can we know our names and the names of all the creatures in the circle–when we realize we are really like them more than we are like those who live on stilts.
This is the kind of poetry, Betty, that makes you one of a select group of poets on wordpress. I celebrate you for this.
LikeLike
Thomas, again I’m honored by your thought-filled and perceptive comment. Yes, “the garden” = Eden/Earth, and the gashes are symbolic of how we’ve polluted, violated, and desecrated our planet – and our disrespect for other creatures. And yes – when we’re on stilts, we lose our connection with nature and the web of all-life. Thank you for assuring me that this message came through in the poem!
LikeLike
Oh…I love love love this one. I always love your work, Betty, but the metaphor of stilts, and the concepts…this is just perfect! I would love to claim I wrote this. You should be proud 🙂
LikeLike
VW, thank you so much for such a great compliment. It’s good to see you back – I’ve missed you lately!!
LikeLike
Betty, this is wonderful and the first three lines pulled me in and I was lost while dancing around the fire~Beautiful! xx
LikeLike
Thank you, Lauren!! 🙂 Nice of you to say so!
LikeLike
‘When we raised our heads
the sky broke through
and we saw God.’
That opening is so beautiful and powerful…to a primal and spiritual awakening of remembering how we move, whether acknowledged or not, in the same circle as all other creatures.
Such a beautifully formed and expressed poem, Betty! Thank you!
LikeLike
Bardess, thank you for your insightful comment!
LikeLike