When I looked for a poem to post, I found this Walt Whitman verse. It reminded me of the writing of Mary Oliver, Parker Palmer, Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, and others who write about the quietness needed for the soul to emerge. It is like to a wild animal, perhaps a spider, which is timid and reluctant to emerge as we crash around. As we sit quietly and listen, it emerges for us to see and listen more closely.
A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.
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About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Precious, a poem that transcends the time in which it was written.
Walt Whitman had a way of doing that. Thank you for the comment Brenda.
Thanks for such inspiring words.
Love this poem. Good post. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
Thank you and take care Natalie.
Merci Yvon! j’aime bcp Walt Whitman – depuis le lycée… un week-end formidable et serein! amicalement, Mélanie
Bienvenue et Merci Mélanie.
“Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul” – how magically wrought..
Walt Whitman was a master poet. I hope I can have beard like his one day, too.
Unusual but fascinating. In many ways it sounds like my own life especially the last line. I finally found that I could stand before an audience and teach by depending not on myself but on the one who created me. It was a changing point for me.
This is a different spider tale but I have witnessed a spider as it “reeled in” its filament. Have you ever seen such a thing? It was amazing.
It takes great patience to watch that spider. It is such delicate work which cannot be rushed or short-circuited. I am glad the poem resonated Marie.
Nice poem.
Thank you Lvsrao.