POEM #14: Sunbeams
a new version of psalm 19
Standing barefoot in the grass this morning, yellow sun shining its warmth on my forehead, yellowjackets ankle-high in the clover, I gaze into the clear sky—deep blue, empty of idols—and feel like myself again, all things at rest.
Life comes to us from the sky—breezes, warmth, refreshing light—we are from the sky, and live in it still; we turn our faces upward, remembering…
—and we can remember, so long as our feet are well-rooted, also!
Hence, the biblical image of human beings as flowers, or trees, faces to the sky, as in the very first psalm, “The Tree of Life,” as I call it in my version:
…His yearning is for the Teachings of Yah
And Yah's Teachings he murmurs within himself
Day and night: Such a man will branch skyward
Like a tree re-planted by streams of water
And bring forth fruit according to the seasons
—Whose leaves remain vibrant, unfading…
And in the same vein I offer you this version of psalm 19, also, past the wall—definitely a skyward poem!—without, however, ever leaving Earth, where breath is sky, and sky, breath, one’s heart gushing in and out like waves on the seashore…
love,
graham