News from Bejosh Farm, where Shivers, the black kitten who nearly froze to death (his sister did) was rescued by Ed and Carol Gulley, dairy farmers from White Creek, New York. Shivers has put the Australian Shepherds in their place and taken over the farmhouse. Last night, Carol Gulley tells me, he slept in Ed Gulley’s beard. Ed says he is not a cat person. Hmmmm…
Tell me, why should I not sit, each winter morning,
every cold morning,
and look directly into the radiant world,
the shining star that is life.
I wait for him there.
I nod to the gospel of light,
the holy radiance of color,
my God sweeps down from the icy clouds,
he needs no Bible, no robe, no angels,
he comes
to kiss my cheek, embrace me in his loving,
healing grip, to look me in the eye.
His very gaze melts the ice that grip my fingers and
makes my heart glow like a fiery star.
Each day, he finds me on my hillside, sitting
under my apple tree, shivering in the wind, and
each day he asks me: “what have you learned,
child? Why are you here?” Each day I tremble,
to be humble.
“My Lord, I say, I have learned to be
passionate about beauty and justice,
the sublime and the sacred. I have learned to
live by my own lights, and not the call of others.”
I have taken a vow, to never be a slave
to the greedy and small-minded and hollow people
who run your world,
I don’t know your mind, I don’t judge it, I
have learned that they exist to test me, so I can
reveal my true self to you every day.
Each cold morning, as the ice crystals sparkle
around my consciousness, I tell you have I kept my
promise, I have scraped together the barest and cold twigs,
and made a fire of the spirit, I have lit the creative spark,
it has warmed my soul and cast a light upon the shadows.
Oh, dear and sweet God, I have learned this:
I will be free or I will be gone.
The news from Ken Norman and Eli is good..sort of. Eli had a tough weekend but finally has her cast set properly and is more comfortable. Ken said Eli spent last month putting ice on his new knees, this weekend he put ice on her broken left wrist. You good and generous people raised nearly $5,000 in two days – what Ken said he needed – over the weekend for Ken and Eli and their farm and family get through this additional crisis.
I talked to Ken this afternoon and he said the gofundme effort has once again been astonishingly successful. They have enough money now to hire people to care for their farm and horses until he and Eli both recover – he has a couple of months of rehab, Eli has about 6 to 8 weeks for her new injuries to stabilize. I don’t know if she will need surgery or not.
He is immensely grateful for the support you gave to him, his family and his animals in the past week, he doesn’t think he needs any more money right now. His fund stands at $37,970. Ken is by no means rich but he says he has enough to get through this, that is a relief. This is perhaps the first time in Ken’s life that he has asked anyone for help, and this has been a profoundly happy and affirming exercise. I can’t thank all of you enough, people are so willing to do good given the chance.
We are going to visit Ken and Eli as soon at is stops snowing and take some photos.
Ken has worked hard all of his life, and in good causes, he has given more than he will ever receive. It is touching and beautiful for me to see this, it is the kind of story that is not considered news in our curious world, it is a huge story, symbolic and uplifting and important.
Thank you all, as winter fights and kicks but begins to wind down, this is a beam of light and color and compassion, the world needs it and will feel it. Such love and generosity brightens the world and shows us the way. It reminds us what it means to be human. Good people are a powerful tribe, there are wonderful new tools that help us come together to be felt and heard. You all did good for Ken, he and Eli are grateful, so am I.
I went out to meet this new storm this afternoon, it was so beautiful and mysterious I felt a chill up and down my spine. I feel as if the earth is speaking directly to me, it is very personal. The animals are in the Pole Barn, we just went out into the dark to shovel the paths – less to do in the morning. Tomorrow I will hole up in my study all day, working on my book. I went out and got some potstickers for dinner tomorrow, we have plenty of soup and I couldn’t find cheese popcorn, but I got some cheese puffs. I don’t think this storm will be especially huge here, maybe a foot of snow altogether.
I might even get to my new gym tomorrow afternoon. This image seemed beautiful to me, we went out in the storm to a friend’s house for dinner and I saw the storm enveloping a small farm across a huge field, it was almost eerily beautiful to me.
The Endless Winter is getting gray and stiff, he only has a few weeks to go. The light is changing, this photo was taken last Fall as the sun came up over the hill.
