Innisfree

Thank you for all your nice notes, everyone! Your qi-full wishes helped:  I woke up feeling a little better today, and assume I’ll be fine to teach tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is a beautiful poem written by Ilyse Simon, who joined us for the Tao Te Ching Walk through Innisfree Gardens last week. I love how perfectly she describes the mysterious power of Tao all around us, flowing through us, and connecting us to source. The trees do, indeed, have much to say. All we have to do is listen.

 Innisfree

It is so loud
When I listen to the trees.
They have much to say

Pine asks for my sadness
Will transform it into courage and inspiration.
Cypress, the water tree,
offers rivers of qi for my kidneys
To give me strength and willpower.

There is nothing more perfect than this moment
The sun toys with the clouds my eyes its reflection on the lake

This lake, a puddle from an iceberg 15,000 years ago
A microcosm like the stone next to the butterfly weed
beneath the dawn redwood
Rescued from extinction from a long forgotten Harvard professor needing a gift for his Sinophile client
A seed.

I stand next to this tree, the first of its rebirth.
So close to extinction.
It’s knobby knees push upwards
Adapt to the water that covers its roots.
We learn to adjust
After forgetting we can.

We learn to bend like bamboo
Grow stronger from the wind
Wave our arms like branches
Find balance.

I could spread my ashes here
Between the yin and yang
The garden and rock, water and air,  Goldfinch and box turtle,
Earth and sky

I could begin my eternal slumber
With this exquisite beauty.
Find peace,
Somewhere in earth
And also in sky.