Some days we just need

a dog’s steady devotion

and unfaltering

forgiveness to “come ’round right”.

It’s not that Toby

doesn’t see, it’s that he sees

unwaveringly.

From that place of surety,

he makes what’s imperfect whole.

                                                                                        JDG

Living among these

gently rolling hills with wide

fields and scattered woods,

with neighbors near but not too

close, I’ve come to feel

the wisdom of the middle

way where there’s not too

little and there’s not too much,

but still there is just enough.

                                                                          JDG

Ravens see me off

to work and greet me when

I return. What they’re

up to when I’m gone, I do

not know. Their magic

follows me throughout the day

and toward evening calls me home.

                                                                                               JDG

When women gather

over time to consider

a book or a dream,

to piece a quilt, shape a poem,

or form a soul collage,

water from a deep

underground river flows within,

between, among them.

When they return to

their work in the larger world,

they return refreshed

for having dipped their cups in

those waters and drunk their fill.

                                                                                                         JDG

When what is staring

us in the face is something

we don’t want to see,

we can pause and breathe, gather

our courage and take

a look. Sometimes that’s all it

takes. The rest unfolds from there.

                                                                                      JDG

Sun claimed this Sunday

as its own from the very

start, inviting me

to set aside all that weighed

me down and take a

leap of faith toward warmth and light.

Putting down what I

was carrying, allowed me

to be carried for a time.

                                                                       JDG

Side by side they sat,

that female cardinal and that

squirrel, watching the rain

fall fast and cold. Were they brought

together by a

shared concern at winter’s fast

approach or were they

pausing to give thanks for all

they had and for all they’d done?

                                                                                   JDG

When things go more wrong

than right, it’s helpful  to have

invested in good

news savings plans. Withdrawals

on rainy days can

be restored when times are good.

We just have to pay

attention and make frequent

deposits to our accounts.

                                                                          JDG

Over forty years

ago, in a dream I was

too young to really

understand, I was very

old and found I must

descend deep into a vast

expanse of water.

 Uncoerced but reluctant,

I began moving

down through water that became

more clear the deeper

down I went. I did not go

 alone. A man with

a staff went with me. There came

a point when I knew

I had gone as deep as I

 had to go and we,

the man and I, made our way

back to the surface.

 When our heads broke the water,

 he vanished and I

was stunned by the play of light.

Now, older than I

was in that long ago dream,

I begin to understand.

                                                                                JDG