Off a hiking trail, in the mountains near Taos, New Mexico.
My favorite place in the world.

               A BLESSING

Every time I call my 91 year old aunt

I ask for the blessing

"May God bless you, take care of you"

Tradition requires these words

Younger person requests

Elder gives rote response

Ritual of my culture

A simple repetition

Stemming from a sacred mystery

Of love entwined in the intangible

For a more solemn intentional blessing

I visit my hidden nature chapel

Away from the myriad of obligations

Imposed by this "civilized" world

I sit on a fallen tree

Amidst its leaves of fertile green

Listening to an inner hush

Created by the stream's rush

Down the mountain of serenity

Delving into vacuous silence

Absorbing its graceful giving

Expanding my awareness of all

That is living

I visit this place to seek

Blessings given freely

By this world's lush grandiosity

This small space to me -

A symbol

Of nature's grand cathedral

Available without ritual or pomposity

To all who seek

To find peace within chaos

Love without promises

Blessings without words

I didn't make it to respond to Brian's prompt on Monday.  But I did want to write about my special place.

For Earthwheel.