reverse threading

the path back is the path forward

Tag Archives: clover


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the way out of chaos. [kerri’s blog on d.r. thursday]

“let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos, where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.” (john o’donohue)

i spent a little over a week in ireland. it was lush and magical and filled with a simple richness hard to articulate. we walked along stone walls separating us and sheep. we perched on high cliffs overlooking the atlantic. we cozied in pubs with pick-up music and dark beer. verdant, there was beauty in its countryside and in its people, in its music and its air. clover – just off the side of the trail – in the shade and still polka-dotted with earlier dew – makes me think of this cherished time of years ago.

we’ll have corned beef and cabbage, white potatoes and carrots with 20. and guinness. we’ll sit together around our tiny kitchen table. he’ll tell of his vacation and we’ll tell him of all the stuff he missed back here. and in the sharing, the sipping, the eating, any storms of this time will part – clouds shuffling back, thunder and lightning easing up. and laughter will gurgle up through the cracks, perspective regaining ground. the chaos will stay where it belongs – in the dregs, the dark caves – and quiet peace – in soft voice and raucous laughter – will rise.

and we’ll know that dewy clover and the kitchen table, the shimmering riches of a good meal and good company, untarnished beauty of shared time and simple nature will always lead the way out of chaos.

*****

read DAVID’s thoughts this D.R. THURSDAY

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clover fluff. [two artists tuesday]

the tiny fluff of clover lives at the edge of the stone step. sweet one-half-inch beauties, they grant wishes to passing chipmunks and chickadees lingering at the birdfeeder. beauty at the edges, innocent, simple, unnoticed mostly.

the big picture often doesn’t validate the tiny edge fluff. it’s too big-picture-ish. lofty goals, high aspirations, gigantic expectations, unreasonable accomplishment demands – all take the focus off the soft sides, the padding between imposing idealism and reality. the shallow depth of field captures the up-close and blurs the rest, giving pause to some of what is overwhelming.

i suppose beauty is meant to be like that. the curl of your baby’s tendril of hair, the new leaf bud on the tree, the wisp of pink cloud in the sun-setting sky, the quiet birdcall at dawn – nothing enormous, just simple and life-giving.

so how is it that we get ourselves mixed up in so much measuring, so much set-up for disappointment. we live our minutes as if they are infinity itself. we compare and contrast and yearn and regret. we are striding, striding. even while the clover waits.

and then, sitting on the step of the deck, pondering for a few minutes, we look down and see this magical sight. the tiny world of the tiny clover beckons our attention. it will not be there forever, and, likely with the drought, will disappear before too long. but in the meanwhile it is there and verdant and growing and it counts.

once again, i am reminded, in a wondrous way, of my own tiny-ness. though i know the mark i make on the world is ephemeral, fleeting, and i sometimes, anyway, get lost in the demands and the challenges and the ups and downs of the accompanying emotional seesaw, i hope that there is something up-close about me that gives pause, that offers kindness, that is love.

my-big-picture is actually very tiny and at the edge of the step of the universe. hopefully it is like clover fluff.

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY


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live in clover. [two artists tuesday]

clover

“to live a life in clover:  to live a life of ease, comfort or prosperity”

the clover on the side of the trail was huge and bountiful green.  we look for the bunnies and wonder who is lucky enough to be nibbling these leaves.  we ask each other – which clover is sweeter:  small-leafed clover or large-leafed clover? we make up the answer and walk on, leaving the field of green, satisfied our clover-knowledge is adequate for the time-being.

we pass the lake, overflowing its banks onto the trail, muddy at our feet and steel-grey-blue out in its depths.  goslings follow obediently behind their parents, the beaver makes a rare appearance, cranes soar overhead, fish jump.  we stand and watch for a few minutes, quietly taking in the field of water, our breathing slowing.

we walk through woods, verdant green peeking out from every brown corner, the field of the grey bark of trees, oldest, youngest, all climbing to the light.  frogs echo from the swampy ponds off the path.  we relish the silence.

past the cut-down fields of corn, brown, the dirt lays barren but for old stalks laying amid the former rows.  we walk and talk about farmers and crops plowed under and whether there will be planting again in these fields, brown now and corn-green later.

and we know, as we walk, that, despite it all – circumstances of abundance, circumstances of lack – we are lucky.  we are walking.  we are breathing.

we will walk in verdant green and blue-water and grey-bark-trees and brown waiting-fields.  we will walk in rich fields, all golden with life.

truth be told, we are living in clover.

“but I swear in the days still left we’ll walk in fields of gold
we’ll walk in fields of gold” (sting)

 

read DAVID’s thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

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