Listen with our eyes. See with our ears. 1/12/10

Listen with your eyes. See with your ears.

A place that seemed so familiar, is suddenly seen anew

Through eyes of wondering beings.

Through fresh eyes and new joys.

Their enthusiasm makes my awe THAT much greater

I take to heart their joy.

I look out over this town I thought I knew so well.

I open my arms and embrace the beauty – both new and old.

Then I shut my eyes.

I see with my ears.

The call of a bird, the wind through the trees, my own breath and my belly rumbles.

I stand, basking in the light of the sun and new discoveries.

There, on the rock beside me, clings a cluster of ladybugs.

Their tiny legs move, so I know they are live –

A pile of one, two, three, soak in the sunlight.

What are they doing up so high on this mountain, in the middle of winter?

Where have they come from, where are they going?

I’d like to know.

I deem myself observer.

I lift my head – my eyes take me a hundred miles away to the San Francisco Peaks,

But my senses keep me here, and present, with the smell of smoldering logs that fills my nose, and the cool breeze that kisses my neck, and the warm sunshine that hugs my back.

There’s nothing like being up high –

The expansiveness one feels.

I am humbled by the sea of green trees, turning into blue mountains,

Stretching out farther to reach the golden meadows of the flat places between.

The vastness never ends, the details ever-present, if you look closely you will see

Four, five six ladybugs…