I Go Among Trees (a poem by Wendell Berry)

The Tree of Life in Autumn (Stacy Wills, 2013)

alcohol inks on yupo + sacred altering

I Go Among  Trees

I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it.  As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.

-Wendell Berry (b. 1934)

While searching out this poem, I came across this video of it set to music by Giselle Wyers and performed by the University of Washington Chamber Singers.  Do you need a Beauty Break in the midst of a busy day?  Treat yourself to five and a half minutes of peace...

Prints of  "The Tree of Life in Autumn" are available here:
The Tree of Life in Autumn

Rest

Recently, I came across this quote from one of my favorite writers, John O'Donohue.  It can be found in,  Anam Cara:  A Book of Celtic Wisdom.  It moved me profoundly and as is my wont, I wanted to link the words with images and create a video so that others might find the same comfort in his words as I have.  

I create videos as a way of offering a small oasis of grace and peace...meditation or reflection...in the midst of our busy lives.  Weary traveler, may you find Rest here.

The world rests in the night.

Trees, mountains, fields and

faces are released from the prison

of shape and the burden of 

exposure.  Each thing creeps back

into its own nature within the shelter

of the dark.  Darkness is the ancient

womb.  Nighttime is womb-time.

Our souls come out to play.

The darkness absolves everything;

the struggle for identity and impression

falls away.  We rest in the night.

-John O'Donohue (1956-2008)

Keep Moving

Keep Moving (Stacy Wills, 2012)

  The ground beneath our feet

is cold and hard, 

as unforgiving 

as the hardest hearts

that forced our exile,

but leave we must.

Keep moving!

 We gather what little we can

 in our haste to leave 

this home we love.

How will we ever find another?

Yes, we have  our memories,

but even they are too heavy to carry now.

Keep moving!

Why?  Why?

  The question stings  our brain

even more cruelly than
   the icy wind stings our faces.

Instinctively,  we pull 

  our wool scarves higher - 

 a pitiful defense. 

But what else is there?

Keep moving!

O God, (if there is a god),

protect us in our flight.  

We are grateful

 for the full moon's light,

this lamp for our poor feet.

But what of dawn?

What ravages will be revealed?
Some wounds never heal.

Keep moving!

We ask the shining stars above

 if the nights we spent beneath them,
 loving and dreaming in our beds

will ever come again,

but they are silent.

Keep moving!

We tread precariously 

on a crumbling ledge of sanity.

This is the cost and pain of war.

With every step we cry:  No more! 

Yet all the while, we're moving.

Keep moving!

-Stacy Wills (10/12/2012)

This poem and painting were inspired by the song Keep Moving, by Trish Bruxvoort Colligan, during week 6 of Women on the Threshold, an online retreat from Abbey of the Arts.