When great trees fall....
Joann was wise and soulful and a great teacher. I loved learning through her wisdom.
Joann provided wonderful reflection with compassion, and in doses that I could digest. I came to Haven with a huge blind spot about how I be with others. She showed me ways to be ‘good enough’. I am a better being - friend, mother, colleague because of Joann.
Joann – you are a great soulful tree.
Anita
When great trees fall,
Rocks on distant hills shudder,
Lions hunker down
In tall grasses,
And even elephants
Lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
In forests,
Small things recoil into silence,
Their senses
Eroded beyond fear
When great souls die
The air around us becomes
Light, rare, sterile,
We breathe, briefly,
Our eyes, briefly, see with
A hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
Examines,
Gnaws on kind words
Unsaid,
Promised walks
Never taken,
Great souls die and
Our reality, bound to
Them, takes leave of us,
Our souls,
Dependent upon their
Nurture,
Now shrunk, wizened.
Our minds formed
And informed by their
Radiance,
Fall away.
We are not so much maddened
As reduced to the unutterable ignorance
Of dark, cold
Caves
And when great souls die,
After a period peace blooms, Slowly and always
Irregularly, Spaces fill
With a kind of
Soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
To be the same, whisper to us
They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be Better.
For they existed.
Maya Angelou
posted by Email Submission at 6/22/2007 08:30:00 AM
0 comments
