Poem from the stream

… in the mailbox this Saturday morning …

When I was the Forest – Meister Eckhart (1260 – 1328)

When I was the stream, when I was the

forest, when I was still the field,

when I was every hoof, foot,

fin and wing, when I was the sky itself,

no one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever

wondered was there anything I might need,

for there was nothing I could not love.

It was when I left all we once were that

the agony began, the fear and questions came,

and I wept, I wept.

And tears I had never known before.

So I returned to the river, I returned to

the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again,

I begged – I begged to wed

every object and creature,

and when they accepted,

Creation was ever present in my arms.

And It did not say,

“Where have you been?”

For then I knew my soul – every soul –

has always held Its Source.