Sabbath Empire

Sabbath Empire

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Sabbath Empire
Sabbath Empire
POEM #14: Sunbeams

POEM #14: Sunbeams

a new version of psalm 19

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Graham Pardun
Aug 11, 2023
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Sabbath Empire
Sabbath Empire
POEM #14: Sunbeams
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The sun: Still a good image for the High One, as it’s always been. (CC)

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

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