Caregivers are called to give and give and then give even more. I owe this gift to you, wishing you a heart that can hold joy next to any sorrows that come. Both I and countless others owe you so much.
Owing
A skein of Canada geese
trims the oak tops,
skims the lake's skin,
tucks into the water
the way we enter bed.
Their keening over the
day's death reminds me
I owe you
what the forest
provides:
the truth
of every evergreen,
their emerald
& the way their
breath inhabits
each room of my soul;
the justice
of the cougar that lunges
for the deer's throat
as each
lusts for air;
the passion
of the lightning stroke
that splinters the sycamore,
burning her taste into
thunder's
trailing tongue.
And I owe you this:
protection
from rain, cold
& your heart's hunger;
comfort
through afternoons
when shadows frighten
you with their
length;
love
that passes through
hands & eyes
as the gratitude of a place
you have made sacred.
You are owed everything
the forest can bring
to the gracious nest
of your heart.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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