I head to a retreat tonight and I hope that it replenishes my creative spirit. These are the lyrics to a song by Claudia Schmidt. The poem has a nature theme, but the idea of replenishing one’s self is strong, natural, and metaphoric in this case.
We go on, we go on,
Canoe under the hot sun,
The upturned paddles guide liquid to our
dry mouths.
Water within us, water surrounds us,
A great mystery our becoming dry at all.
Replenish, replenish, all must be replenished.
The water within and without.
All that fills, all that surrounds us:
The great whistling pines,
The tenacious beaver,
The ancient loon,
The rush of the young eagle’s wings as it
dips low over our canoe.
Replenish!
The eyes bathed in this delicate solitude,
The trembling eternity,
Called back in mid-sweep only to be
assessed by green parched eyes
Replenish!
Each shriveled heart
Which has its moments only at events set
aside for its song,
But cannot fly for the connection
Between the rock and the human body,
The heron’s wing and the hope in our souls,
We go on,
We go on.
Our paddles dance with the lake water to
the music in our throats.
We will grow dry again
Perhaps leap into the water
A small and symbolic celebration of a great
and endless task
Which gracefully undertaken,
Might allow us to go on, and on, and on.
Beautiful! May you have a wonderful time!
Thank you Jennifer.
Beautiful!!
It is.
What a wonderful way to characterize your time away…I hope you renew and replenish and enjoy.
I already have begun even after the first evening. I find it better rest than sleep.
I would imagine so…Ivon – I nominated you for the sweetest blogger award (on my last post ‘Very Sweet And Low In Calorie’).
I just love the sheer expression of inter-being and interconnectedness in the poem. Beautiful! Thanks Ivon
It set up the retreat so well that way.
Beautifully Characterized.
Thank you Lvsrao.
Heading off to a retreat to replenish creative thoughts sounds fantastic! Love the post!
It has been and thank you.
To go on is a cycle of renewal.
That makes perfect sense Alex. It is so natural.