Echoes

                                                                         Deep 

                                                                         Ever

                                                                         Sun sand 

                                                                         Echoes 

                                                                         Ring

                                                                         True 
                                                                                --acrostic poem by Noelle, age 8 and Danielle, age Mom

The desert 
this place of origin 
Before the life grows strong

Where elements sing ancient songs 

And the bones of our past lay exposed

Do we have the courage to look at them? Learn from them?

Fire bakes, 
Earth boulders and quakes 

Water streams relief 
Air whispers palm leaf dreams 

If you want to know the truth 
And strength of who you are 

And came to be

Walk among the thorns 

This is not the place of illusion 
Where patterns and color 

And fancy feathers and dances 
Tell you a story and ask you to believe 

This is the place where illusion comes to die 
Torn by a thousand needles

Impossible it seems
to wind through 

The unrelenting penetrations
Of precious outer boundaries

 Perhaps it's the surface wounds
That sting the most 

But then
A little Self awareness and
the Under-Standing of your own feet (find that center point)

take you through easily
Even beautifully 

Your reward -
the silence 
And the still hollow 
Of Thought-Lessness

And that whisper through the palms?
It was You all along.
Circle back on yourself 

All the voices become One 
No arguments to be had  

Whole again 
Your steps feel as big as the mountains