Flower Song

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I watched the waterfall.
Listened --
to the water
fall.
I saw the bright hibiscus,
the tiger lily
just beyond --
and heard their song.

Susan M. Kennedy

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At the Arboretum last week, one of the features that had me mesmerized was a contemporary styled waterfall ... very elegant and simple. The water fell from two stories high in sheets behind which were beautiful plantings to glimpse beyond and through ...

I mean seriously ... when you think of all the natural elements that conspired to create this amazing visual symphony - water - reflecting the sky and the sun, shimmering in front of flowers and ferns, kissed by the wind ... ???

Mary Oliver said it much better than I ever could - what I was feeling and thinking ... as I listened. I have a feeling that had I been able to stay, I would be one of those listening still.


There Is a Place Beyond Ambition

When the flute players
couldn't think of what to say next

they laid down their pipes,
then they lay down themselves
beside the river

and just listened.
Some of them, after a while,
jumped up
and disappeared back inside the busy town.
But the rest --
so quiet, not even thoughtful --
are still there,

still listening.

~ by Mary Oliver, from "Red Bird"