on the ninth day.... - fran claggett-holland

[Larry Robinson]

on the ninth day....

Birdwoman, accompanied by Dog, enters the conversation.

Are you sure, I ask.
Of course I am sure. she says.
These are my greatest questions, I say.

how can it be, I ask again.
I live my life in wonderment and fear.
I don't know how to do that.

Of course you don't, she says.
you think of them as two separate things
when they are really two sides of the same thing.

wonder is where you live ninety nine percent of the time.
wonder is your world. you have always known that.
you live in it most of the time.

you live in the wonder of the artifacts of the world
the sky, the earth, the trees, flowers, the lakes
you live in the eyes of all the animals of the earth

at the same time, you live in the underworld of fear
you are alone and not alone, you are part of the
wonder yet part of the fear, knowing as you do

the pain of grief, of loss, of your own blindness
of being impervious to how one step too many
leaves you halfway down from the precipice

and there, you are united with Birdwoman and
know that she and Dog will carry you back to the top
where, once again, you find your voice and live

as the poet wrote, "beyond the genius of the sea,"
surrounded by its beauty and its power
even as you know its force can be dangerous

and with these words Dog, who has been listening,
turns his head and I understand that Birdwoman
knew all along Dog would be part of my knowing

and his gaze would lead to my own knowledge of
wonder and fear, and how they coalesce
into the magical world of Awe.​

​​​​       - fran claggett-holland


"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts."
  - Wendell Berry