"what would I be...."

"Now I'm no longer doubtful
of what I'm living for...

Cause you make me feel
you make me feel,
you make me feel,
like a natural woman...."

Last night, Jeff and I were captivated by a PBS preview of the Carole King/James Taylor Troubadour Tour that will crisscross the U.S. this summer.  When Carole started singing, "Natural Woman...," she was so very naturallly herself  --  wild,  life-whitened hair, sun-softened skin, wise blue eyes, and a body that she looked as comfortable "in her own skin" with, as the warmth in her voice made me feel  --  and suddenly, I too felt at peace with my own evolving form.  Because, pouring from every pore of her being...voice, eyes, smile, embrace with her fellow musicians...was a peace that "passed understanding."   And that peace washed over me with waters that refreshed...and the valley began to bud, and blossom, like the rose.

This is the poem that spilled itself forward onto the page: 

what would I be
if 
I
weren't
who you think I am
today,
or who I think
I ought to be
tomorrow

would I
be a tree
whose branches
reach across the sky
and tremble with hope
that maybe
just, just maybe
I could be that place
where the scarlet
taninger
chooses to
feather her nest with
downy tufts of cottonwood seed
and bits of
grass
woven
together like a small
quilt
for tiny eggs
that I could
hold in the
crook of my elbow
like a
wise old aunt...and
with each soft
breeze through my
leaves
I would coo and
sigh...
rock
and weave...
softly
softly
BE a
lullaby for
what
has yet to
poke through the
shell of
its
own birthing...

what would we be
if
all that
mattered to
the other,
was the
essence,
the sap,
the consciousness....
the soupy liquid
of our being...defining us,
to us

if form and
outline were
as
free-flowing and
unfolding
as
the shifting clouds
above us
or
the
line of salted seafoam
that ebbs and
flows
upon the sand
beneath our toes
while we
splash and
play
like children
in the
surf

what would you be
if tomorrow
what
I think you are...
or ought to be...
were
washed away
like dust
from the
leaves of the sweet
and the savory,
the
green and the purple
basil,
rosemary,
thyme...
the
tender herbs
which
wait in the
heat of noonday for
rest and drink
from
a sudden summer
shower?

go ahead...

I will watch
with
baited breath...
on tippy-toes...
at the edge of my seat...
watching,
ready to sigh
with wonder
at what
God has
done...
as you!

A few statements from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy come to mind this afternoon...I will leave you wtih them, today:

"The divine Mind maintains all identities,
from a blade of grass to a star,
as distinct and eternal."

and

"Consciousness constructs a better body
when faith in matter has been conquered."

and

"Spiritual evolution alone
is worthy of the exercise of divine power."

and 

"God is the Life, or intelligence,
which forms and preserves
the individuality and identity of animals
as well as of men."

As well as this statement also from Hafiz:

"I have learned so much from God
That I can no longer call myself
a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me
That I can no longer call myself
a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure soul.
Love has...freed me
Of every concept and image my mind has ever known."

And, finally, this from "Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq" by Muhyi'ddin ibn al-'Arabi as translated by Suheil Bushrui, Professor at University of Maryland (who was, herself, born in Nazareth):

My heart is capable of every form:
A pasture for gazelles,
A monastery for monks,
An abode for idols,
And a place where the votaries of the Kaaba come.
In my heart, both the Tablets of the Torah and the Holy Qur'an are to be found.
My faith and religion is love: wherever it beckons me, I follow."

Just some things I am thinking about today....have a great weekend!

with Love,

Kate
Kate Robertson, CS

Here is a 1972 Carole King performance of "Natural Woman."

And a friend suggested that I provide this link to an earlier post, "after all, you're still you..."