April

My route parallels the broad Sacramento River delta flowing out to the San Francisco bay. Each time I make this trip I am reminded of my ancestors who once settled in this region more than one hundred years ago; I wonder if they were struck by any of the same sights and sounds as the year moved along. I think of the river at this time of year wide cold and swollen with rain, the sierra snow on the peaks across the valley has not begun to melt. It flows alongside the interstate silent huge and unseen until a bridge crossing just before I reach the opening to the bay. As I leave the valley, I can read the orchards like my favorite calendar. Almond flowers are long gone in the deepest part of the valley, leaving only confetti of petals to convey the spring time party that took place. I see westbound trucks transporting bees in neatly stacked white boxes to coastal valleys that are still rich with blooms. Beyond the almond orchards are walnut trees just waking up. The native black walnuts that line the country roads have been bursting leaves since early March and have already begun to let down catkins while the English hybrids in the orchards are just emerging from winter sleep with leaf bunches still packed like hands in prayer pushing out from the tips of each branch and bud. The biggest oaks are just beginning to awaken as well. Green grass grows high in the orchard rows and covers the hillsides all around, but the ground is still too muddy for mowers or cows in some areas. California poppies sprinkle the side of the road in that familiar orange, reminding me of the blooming nasturtiums at home that I will soon be stuffing with goat cheese to share with my beloved. A few last storms are passing through every other week or so to wash the pollen down the street in yellow tides. The blue jays that were so busy feeding themselves and fattening up throughout March are now seeking more nesting materials than food. I am charmed, excited and grateful for the renewal and fertility that I live with and within. It is April.

three n one

What dare we allow to enter and pass through?
Life and Love—be either, or
Breath and Light.

Through the deepest of darkness, One reaches and peers
To distant starlight, numerous and luminous;
Alive and Clear.

Beside us, inside us, resides the strange and cosmic;
Equivalent depth extends within the individual
Being and Consciousness.


We enter through love or light.
Deepest One peers starlight—luminous clear.
Inside, the cosmic extends individual consciousness.


Through light, peers clear cosmic consciousness.