Under a sunflower’s tree,

we wept with clouds.

Under the shelter of soil and root,

we kissed your firmament.

This terrazzo

laid by the mason of heaven,

each color side by side

in a random mosaic of splendor.

Cloaked by this river, this shore,

This deafening roar of unborn tides

conjures magnificent beasts in its wake.

The symbol of all symbols herein resides.

It's keeper, a friend arranging driftwood idols.

While the heavens unleashed their gentle fury,

I hang between knarled tethered vines.

Between the fork in the world,

I sit with hummingbird eyes,

perched against the sky as deep blue as the ancient sea.

Children dive into stones that become mirrors of heaven.

They plunge. They glisten.

This unlimited fantasy called Time

with dimensions of creative sublime,

opens mind

to wander along

a path

near crystal streams of consciousness.

Here in the land of sound

music is born.

From fluttering butterfly wings.

From waterfalls in a storm.

From a songbird.

From screaming crickets.

From the washing women beating clothes clean

on sun bleached flats of stone.

This samba sway of any day...

Here on top of this diamante world,

our ascent transpires in stages from the gross to the subtle.

With closed eyes,

I adjust my latitude.

I smile from my belly to my heart

because in nature the news is everywhere!

That happy hope,

that the planet heals its inhabitants through Love.

Chapada Diamantina, Brazil 11/07