an offering

Mary Ruth nestled with Old Turtle on Agnus Lake.






This newly written poem is offered in vulnerability, and with my shoes off: as this is holy ground. May you also experience that which is holy and wholly other...

The breeze coming off
the lake -
Agnus, her name
carries
the scent of Red Pine -
baked in the heat
a scent that brings immediate
recognition and floods
the memory
of knowing
my body rests
at the base of
a white pine -
my elder - wise
I stretch my spine,
my legs,
my toes
out -
following the path
of her roots -
wanting the depth that she possesses
My arm,
hand,
fingers
exploring
the mouth of a granite sister -
Old Turtle
covered with lichens and home
to ants,
spiders and
other living things
i cannot see.
a rock tooth,
chipped -
wedged within the orifice
propping her tired
mouth open
she breathes
accepting the breeze
the life giving air
the product of our sister
White Pine
my hand caresses
her face
i lean into her
rest my head
i listen

-Mary Ruth Kamp

(Please do not reuse this poem in any form without contacting me. I want you to share it with others, but i want to know about it first. Thanks for this respect.)