Small stone: January 31, 2012

The last day of January's River of Stones

It’s time to observe inwardly today.

Each January day has included a time for seeing

something different in my world.

Today, the search centers: how have I changed?

Small stone: January 30, 2012

Every morning meditation takes me

into that quiet forest where the breathing of the trees

is the essence and the quiet chirp of a bird

is awareness that my mind will move from silence

to action. How it moves will be today’s choice.

And then there crept a little noiseless noise among the leaves,
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves.
  – John Keats

Small stone: January 29, 2012

A raven pair soaring

and swooping nearby hills and park

for much of the winter. Today,

an escort of several juveniles:

an unkindness of ravens. 

Small stone: January 28, 2012

My journey of the small stones is about reflecting.

Overhead startlingly blue, but wind-shimmering water

fragments the moment.

A friend’s loving old dog mirrors affection,

whole and accurate.

Sky, water, human, dog.

Small stone: January 27, 2012

A friend slices the banana

into his cereal in unequal size bites.

Seems like lack of attention to proper order!

He says, “I like every bite to be a bit different.

Lesson learned.

Small stone: January 26, 2012

Feeling unconnected and unobservant.

Walking past the cabinetmaker’s shop,

a primal scent: freshly cut oak.

I am suddenly present,

yet deeply in the past.

My Dad cutting wood.

Small stone: January 25, 2012

Trees. Companions on this journey,

admiring how they survive.

Question this morning:

When is my bark protection, when a scar,

and when is it simply the outer part of me?