untangling the web

poetry about and photography of everyday happenings and sights

Category Archives: spirituaity


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August Mornings

Mist covers the pond

like a giant’s breath

on a cool August morning,

a morning that is a gift

after hot humid days.

And then it effortlessly lifts 

to allow the sun its show.

On a hot humid morning,

dragon flies dart around 

plants by the lake,

blue wings flashing, and

tree frogs chatter away while

water nibbles at pond’s edge.

New sweet gum leaves 

poke up from the roots of an

old tree and bees hum in 

a hollow trunk; pine needles 

are strewn across the path,

washed in piles by the recent rain.

White button weed hides in the 

grass and I almost miss it.

I try to be present, but it’s a challenge.


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Glimpses

As I drove along on

this cold, grey morning, 

a flash of red caught

my eye, then three more,

as four cardinals flew from 

the middle of the road and 

disappeared into the white woods.

Later this morning through 

the window during yoga I gazed 

at a big tree that has captured

my heart, its snow-kissed branches

stretching protectively over the 

courtyard of an old stone church,

filling the space with its gracefulness. 


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Synchronicity

As Luna and I ambled around

the pond on this clear, new 

morning with grass kissed by

frost, I began reciting out loud

as I often do Wendell Berry’s

The Peace of Wild Things.

At the very moment I

reached “and the great heron

feeds,” a great blue heron

flew the length of the pond.

Was this a coincidence,

synchronicity, or divine plan?


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Beginner’s Mind

What would it be like

to start each day with

beginner’s mind? To marvel

at a body that functions

without our control, 

that feels and sees

and smells and thinks,

that communicates in a 

language developed

centuries before our

births. What would it be 

like to see each sunrise

and sunset as a miracle,

each wildflower with

new delight, each 

redbud as a wonder, each

bird as a new marvel? 

What would it be like 

to wipe the mind clean

of all thoughts and opinions,

to see the spark of the

divine in everyone and

everything we meet,

and act from a place

of love? Just imagine

what it would be like

to start each day

with beginner’s mind.

Inspired by the daily meditations of Richard Rohr


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A Snowy Morning

The earth was hushed 

that morning and a light

snow was falling, uniting

ground and sky, the still

and the moving, brown and

white. Pine needles on the 

path were covered by snow 

highlighting an intricate 

design like a fisherman’s net 

or spider’s web, an encounter

between life and death. 

The cosmos was showing off

its artistry in twisted bare 

branches, in an ethereal

light on a skim of ice, in

things seldom observed.

Nature was sparking the

imagination with the 

magnificence of creation 

with no intention other

than to simply enchant.


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The Great Mystery

What makes mist gently

move across the pond or

the pond reflect the clouds?

What makes the sound

of the wind, and why do

pine needles fall to

the ground? What makes 

the lavender flowers…these

lavender flowers at my feet

or the white ones beside them?

What makes the blue heron’s 

neck so long and why does he 

stand so still at our approach?

And what about the algae

on the fallen branch or

the orange mushrooms?

You might say that it

is all explained by science.

But what explains science?

Does anyone really know?

Do we work too hard

to make sense of it all

when perhaps we are

just meant to be amazed?