Up The Mountain

We're heading up the mountain to gather with family and celebrate the 4th of July. I'm jamming necessities, like Goldfish crackers, into my green shopping bags. You know how you start emptying out the fridge and shove your toothbrush into your back pocket? So, I'm not the most organized camper. But I'm leaving you this beautiful poem by James Wright to meditate on, maybe get us all thinking about the blessings in our lives. I'm going to see my brothers, dip in the cool water of the pond, pick blueberries, sit around the bonfire tonight, and catch up with the people who've known me my whole life...

A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their

happiness

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me

And nuzzled my left hand.

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

-James Wright