Dear Friends,
We hope that you are safe and well.
Today's meditation features poet Lois Roma-Deeley relishing moments of oneness with nature. These moments refresh our spirits for the rest of the day. These moments also remind us that we are part of the great circle of life, stretching back to the past and forward to the future. WOW.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in the church, in healthcare, in the workplace--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that it is God's economy of abundance: when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you find peace, healing, hope and the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron and Jean
Meditation 773: "Wild Horses Drink from the River of History" by Lois Roma-Deeley
Wild Horses Drink from the River of History
Lois Roma-Deeley
Hours before dark, I follow the stony path
from the parking lot to the river bank.
Along the shore I look for crushed branches and trampled grass,
the clearing where wild horses are said to appear.
Then, I hide behind a mesquite tree, hold my breath.
I want to know their secrets.
Finally the mares and foals emerge from the woods
and stand, ankle deep, among the dense reeds.
At once the entire herd bows their heads,
laps the cool water, takes the river into themselves.
If I were brave, if I’d forget
to move past the brokenness of my own family,
I’d approach these unclaimed, unnamed creatures.
I’d stroke their brown manes,
feed them sugar apples and snow peas.
We’d share one fearless story.
Now the Mustangs dig their feet under the tall grass.
I step forward, snap a few pictures,
as if the camera could capture
when my unsettled heart and theirs became one.
Overhead, the whir of helicopter blades
cuts through a questioning sky.
Suddenly there’s a thousand echoes,
galloping hooves ringing over badlands.
I turn and look back to the river
which flows on, relentlessly, carrying with it
every story of who or what has come and gone.
And the sun sets, dropping behind the mountain,
leaving a blue ridge, a dimming thread of gold.
I get into my car, head up switchbacks
that lead me to the open highway and down towards the city
where lights shimmer like the past of distant stars.
Copyright © 2022 by Lois Roma-Deeley. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 7, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.
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“I’ve come to love the Arizona landscape. It is, to me, as mystical as it is beautiful. For example, I’ve often observed a wild mustang herd. This poem took as its point of departure one day when I saw several of these majestic creatures drink from the river, while others rested under the cool shade of tall trees. I was not more than a few feet away from them. They seemed aware of me but quite unafraid of my presence. This moment seemed otherworldly. It became something like a path leading to the past but also stretching toward the future.”
—Lois Roma-Deeley
Lois Roma-Deeley is an Italian American poet and the author of Like Water in the Palm of My Hand (Kelsay Books, 2022), among other titles. The recipient of a 2016 Arizona Commission on the Arts Grant, she currently serves as the poet laureate of Scottsdale, Arizona.
Like Water in the Palm of My Hand
(Kelsay Books, 2022)