learn the flowers

Gary Snyder, buddhist, environmentalist, pulitzer prize winning poet, wrote one of my favourite poems.  I love the long vision, and the simple yet so deeply, deeply important  instructions at the end.  It speaks to me of Unitarian Universalism: community, nature, light.

For the Children

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

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How Far is the Furthest Star?

I am a child of the universe.  Born shortly after the geodesic futuristic visions of the Montreal Expo, I grew up after the moon landing, watching the “big blue marble” on TVO.  I spent my younger years watching re-runs of the original Star Trek, Doctor Who, and then came Star Wars.  I loved the Star Wars trilogy and watched it each and every time it showed up on television (these were the days even before vcrs.)  I wanted to be out there, having space adventures, meeting aliens of every colour, saving the galaxy.   I love the image of  stars rushing past and use it as my screensaver. Continue reading