An Elastic Web of Light – Far Above the Earth, and Closer Than Close

Once I traveled far above the earth.
This beloved planet we call home was covered with an elastic web of light.
I watched in awe as it shimmered, stretched, dimmed, and shined,
shaped by the collective effort of all life within it.
Dissonance attracted more dissonance.  Harmony attracted harmony.
I saw revolutions, droughts, famines, and the births of new nations.
The most humble kindnesses made the brightest lights.  Nothing was wasted.

– Joy Harjo –
Preface from Crazy Brave: A Memoir

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Get Close

So close you see something you thought you knew
as if for the first time, then closer, beyond seeing—
lost, mystified.

Like the time I photographed
the grey shadow on the side of a tree, magnifying
until I realized it was not a shadow but growing moss.

Until I realized the white dots were not dots
but tiny flowers blooming in the moss
until I was so close I disappeared.

In the whole universe there was nothing
and no one but the tree and me,
and we were only one thing.

–  Susan Zimmerman –
Anthologized in The Path to Kindness, edited by James Crews
Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash

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