Saturday, September 17, 2011

Dawn

Bundled against the autumn chill, I walk up the hill to a grouping of large sandstone rocks rising in lovely swirling formations. The westerly wind is already stirring, so I find a protected alcove and position my blankets in that soft curve of hard rock.

Light is just now coming to the eastern sky. As I take my seat, vivid pink brightens the bottom of a single cloud, farther away than the others. This morning’s sky~~a layering of clouds within an otherwise clear expanse~~promises a lavish display of progressing light. The anticipation quickens my senses, yet I stay with each moment so as not to miss a single step in the process.

I settle into my breath and know that I do not breathe alone. Life is one grand inhale and exhale. Beings and galaxies come into existence and pass out of it again. Rocks rise up from the earth and are eroded back into dust. Tides ebb and they flow. Seasons move one to the other as Earth ambles along its elliptical path around the sun, sweeping to the furthest point before turning back again. Night follows day as day follows night.

And I have been given a front~row seat. As the earth rotates me toward the sun, the cirrus clouds high above grow salmon~colored, a backdrop to the cumulus below, whose gray has just now shifted toward purple.

A deer and her twins munch their way through the meager grass below me. My head turns of its own accord toward the bush that brushes my left shoulder. How can it grow here, in only a few cupfuls of dirt collected in a shallow dip of rock? As I look closer in the strengthening light, I notice what I have missed before~~the tiniest, most slender catkins I have ever seen! Less than an inch in length and thinner than a piece of yarn, they are this bush’s ultimate gift, an offering from deep within its genetic code. And I open to its teachings.

Life gives of itself so freely, so beautifully, so continuously. The sun’s warmth and the glory of its rising and setting, the magic of photosynthesis, the begetting of the next generation of flora and fauna from the one that comes before~~everywhere one looks, this reality shines out.

The fawns are nursing now, one on each side of their mama. High above them, pink walks its way westward, followed by a rich and brilliant orange which gradually dissolves into a simple golden light. From my rocky perch, the whole valley opens to me. Vast stretches glow golden in the angled sunlight, the occasional hillock and cluster of trees casting long shadowy fingers.

As I breathe it all in, I wonder what my exhale will be. Having received so much, what will I pass on?

A neighboring husky releases a series of ululating howls, her offering to the risen sun. As the last soulful note dies away, I gather my things and return home.

I prepare a bowl of oatmeal, add yoghurt, a sprinkling of nutty granola, and sweet cantaloupe chunks the color of the sky I’ve just seen. Placing my hands on either side of the bowl, I utter a silent blessing for these gifts. And I vow to transform the energy given me according to the deepening capacities of my own soul. I vow, also, to give back with the same generosity with which it has all come my way.

My actions, my thoughts, the choices I make in each moment~~these are my own slender catkins, my offering to life.

Blessings on all our catkins. May these fuzzy little flower clusters, in all their marvelous and varied manifestations, tickle our world pink!

Loanne Marie

10 comments:

Linda said...

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing your sunrise with us

Claire said...

Loanne, I so enjoy reading all of your writing, and this truly attests to your burgeoning skills as a writer.
Reading it was like floating down a meandering river or gazing into a star-studded night sky. It is a reading meditation.
Thank you for your continued expression of the Great I Am and for sharing your enlightening interpretation of All That Is.
Sharing this journey with you is a blessing.
Namaste.

Anonymous said...

Oh that was beautiful! How lucky you were to SEE it all.
Blessings to you and this world of ours.

Leia Marie said...

Thanks to you both. In my growing awareness of our interconnection, I knew I was experiencing this sunrise not for myself alone. Everyone I knew, and all those I didn't know, were right on that rock with me. For, truly, the very same Earth that spun me toward the sun carried all of us there.

So, I offer my catkins to you and you offer yours to me. How lovely!

Anonymous said...

Oh that was beautiful! How lucky you were to SEE it all.
Blessings to you and this world of ours.

Leia Marie said...

Yes! That is exactly what it felt like~~blessings on this world of ours. Blessings stream forth always. We can close ourselves off from them. We can only perceive them with our minds. Or we can open fully, saying yes to the blessings streaming in. Let's all say a resounding "YES!"

Thanks for reading and for writing!

Catherine said...

How very beautiful. Your essay transported me from the mundane of every day to the beauty of eternal bliss. And yet, for those with eyes to see, it is in the mundane ordinariness of every day that we find this beauty.

Thank you, thank you.
Catherine

Leia Marie said...

Oh, absolutely! Now if we can just remember to do that. You know, it's kinda easy on a sandstone rock at sunrise. I guess that's where I practice seeing, like you say, beauty in the mundane ordinariness of each day.

Thanks for reading and writing!

Sam said...

Like never before, I find I am aligned with these magnificent words you wrote about your dawn: "I settle into my breath and know that I do not breathe alone. Life is one grand inhale and exhale. Beings and galaxies come into existence and pass out of it again. Rocks rise up from the earth and are eroded back into dust. Tides ebb and they flow..." This was my experience during the sunsettings on my solo -- with a quiet voice always saying "I am this. This is me." What an exceptional essay. Loved it.

Leia Marie said...

Oh, and your addition~~or your quiet voice's addition~~is just perfect. "I am this. This is me." Absolutely! At these moments, we are offered glimpses 'through the veil' to the reality that all is, indeed, one. Separations are recognized as illusory.

The trick for me is in the remembering. The re~membering. But that seems like what I'm here to practice.

Thanks for writing and adding that missing piece to the essay!