Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

Posted on by Live & Learn

When the night slides under with the last dimming star
and the red sky lightens between the trees,
and the heron glides tipping heavy wings in the river,
when crows stir and cry out their harsh joy,
and swift creatures of the night run toward their burrows,
and the deer raises her head and sniffs the freshening air,
and the shadows grow more distinct and then shorten,
then we rise into the day still clean as new snow.
The cat washes its paw and greets the day with gratitude.
Every day we find a new sky and a new earth
with which we are trusted like a perfect toy…

We are given the wind within us, the breath
to shape into words that steal time…
Yet holy breath still stretches our lungs to sing.
We are lent for a time these minerals in water
and a morning every day, a morning to wake up,
rejoice and praise life in our spines, our throats,
our knees, our genitals, our brains, our tongues…

We are given passion to rise
like the sun in our minds with the new day
and burn the debris of habit and greed and fear.
We stand in the midst of the burning world
primed to burn with compassionate love and justice,
to turn inward and find holy fire at the core,
to turn outward and see the world that is all
of one flesh with us, see under the trash, through
the smog, the furry bee in the apple blossom,
the trout leaping, the candles our ancestors lit for us…

Let silence still us so you may show us your shining
and we can out of that stillness rise and praise.

~ Marge Piercy, from “Nishmat in “Available Light

Notes: Poem – Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels. Photo: Marta Navarro

33 thoughts on “Monday Morning Wake-Up Call”

  1. I wan’t to live there… herons, deers, rivers….
    Right now, in a rental, the people on top of our abode, are shaking windows and floor with their steps, I hear them talking…. silence would be WONDERFUL

    1. Silence is wonderful.

      Now, standing by the shore, I am as filled with awe and thankfulness as on that January afternoon. In this moment, I am sustained by a sense of wonder and peace, humbled by life, and respectful of it, connected to the planet and her people, and to something much greater than myself, an invisible essence for which I have no language. I live in its mystery, content to let it be revealed. I do not have to name it. It is enough to know its truth.
      This is where silence has brought me.

      ~ Anne D. LeClaire, Listening Below the Noise (HarperCollins, January 29, 2009)

      1. I think I like this one even better – often I think that my life is quite a life full of mystery, at all times – and I just spoke to HH about How the fact that we are married to each other is still a mystery to me, after over 20yrs… 🙂
        And as Anne LeClaire said: I don’t have to name it – it’s just what it is and we’re content for this happening….

      1. Oh but THIS ONE – that’s IT 🙂
        What are YOU, a walking, talking poetry-reciting almanach? I mean I know that you are TALKING to the public, that you obviously (should) know to answer questions, that you can relate to people, you might even be a guru to some (what do I (read that in BOLD) know?!) but your knowledge of citations, quotes, crumbs of great writing, is just stunning and I’m in total awe for your knowledge and many ways of ‘shaking stuff out of your sleeve’…..
        You may write What you do in Life in a private mail – and I won’t tell anybody – EVER (as a Swiss I’d add now: Swear to the Big Indian’s Chief parole…. you can’t get higher than that!!!!)
        😉
        😉
        🙂

        1. worked now – they have updated (= down-dated as per many bloggers of long, long standing) again and maybe that was ONE of many faults of their stars….

  6. This took my breath away this morning, Dave. Casually checking my emails after my morning rituals, walking towards my desk to get to work, I had to stop to really take it in. Then I had to sit down and start all over again to savor it fully. Sharing as my #MindfulMonday post. Thank you, as always, for enriching my life experience.

  7. Im off today, most of the week actually. I need an intense high dose of silence and stillness! I don’t want to think about work, not leaving the house, not opening the blinds. I don’t want to see anything out there.
    Night is long but it’s not long enough at times, but this is a beautiful Monday morning wake up call 😊

  8. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    ‘Let silence still us so you may show us your shining
    and we can out of that stillness rise and praise.’ Marge Piercy, from “Nishmat in “Available Light” … and much more as I wake up!!

  9. Such a wonderful morning mantra… Remind us to stop, breathe, feel the stillness, prepare to take in what life has to offer… I read it three times before being able to comment.

  10. I have not been able to put words to my response to this piece…
    Grateful – for life’s journey and finding people like you to share the way.

    Thank you —

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