Trees
Dangling upside down
Over a stream of sky
Trees reaching toward the blue surface
Like stalactites, icicles of crusty bark
Reaching downward from my skewed perspective
I lay on the earth
Gazing up at the upside down
Watching branches bend and creak
Over a surface of blue unbroken
Except the occasional flotsam of clouds drifting by
The trees reach to grasp at heaven
Which floats by like the nourishing waters of a river
In this moment, heaven is beneath my head
Behind my body, gravity pulling me toward the divine
Skin to earth, connected to rock and soil and blade
I grasp a rock in my hand, anxious to feel the touch
The roughness, the reality
I watch the invisible wind magically working its way
Across the landscape of arboreal reaction
Tiny branches shivering with delight
Like a child feeling its toes in the ocean for the first time
I hold the rock to my chest, letting its weight
Press gently against my heart, anchoring me
Anchoring me to earth, anchoring me to the core
Is God in the heavens? Perhaps
But I feel God now pressed into my sternum
Pushing into my shoulder blades
Pulling me downward
Embracing me with gravity (gravity indeed)
Raising goosebumps on my skin as God passes by
Sending shivers through my bare soul
The sun warms my face and bare arms
On a brisk March afternoon
Layers of winter clothes hang inside closets
In a house where I am protected and sheltered
Cut off from that which anchors me
Separated from that which nourishes me
Detached from the well of spirit
That is only known and understood and appreciated and awed
When I take the time to bring skin to earth