A beautiful poem. For me, it affirms the union of the finite and the infinite in mystery. Also, there's a heartfelt sense of grieving in the poem. Thanks.
It is the Sunday past Ash Wednesday, and I am slowly catching up on these beautiful posts. This one resonated with me, Carrie...I was somehow teary-eyed, thinking back to all the times (as a young child) I was determined to rescue dying birds or small animals I would somehow find in or near my yard. I never really saved them, but like you offered kind, warm, and loving space for them to step into the next realm.
This was a perfect reflection of where we all are today.....offering our kindness to others on the journey.
That's what we all have inside us....some buried a bit deeper than others...but kindness is there, just waiting to be shared.
Thank you for your words...and voice! I loved listening to you this morning. ✌️💚🎶☘️🕊
"The Titmouse" is so relevant to every living being - the older any of us get the more we tend to live in the past. Memories take a disproportionate amount of our bandwidth. And even more so, reflecting on how we fit into natures web. I'm glad you were there to make one beautiful creature's life and passing - a little easier. A good purpose for all of us.
I am currently reading a book called "The Physics of God" by Joseph Selbie. Your poem about the dying titmouse brings to mind an principle put forth in this book - everything is energy and death is not the cessation of the living energy but the withdrawal of this energy from the current container or physical form of said energy.
So lovely. I can remember a year where baby robins fell from the next. Just born really. Looked like they were struggling. Mom did not return and I took them to a local bird rescue. Holding their infinitesimally small bodies was so scary and humbling. Their skin paper thin. The expert there explained they had some disease that was ripe that year. The mothers push them out to die and don’t return. There is no way to recover. The woman there was able to euthanize them and said it was a kind act because otherwise they starve to death. It was such a sad experience but warm that I could show a kindness to the tiniest newborns. This poem reminds me of that.
Recently, a mourning dove flew into my glass kitchen door. As she laid there on the sidewalk, I felt so sad and such a closeness with her. I knew she was dying. I was with her, and buried her close to my house so I could be with her.
We learned about the "Inner Light" growing up in Quaker Meeting. It is a blessed practice to meet and greet others with "the light in me salutes the light in you".
I was doing hospice work at the same time as studying continuing education in the healing arts for body work, and was learning about the body’s meridians. And around that time I was doing a night shift to offer every comfort and aide possible. In the middle of the night, the nurse called the patient’s daughter. Her Mother was starting to show signs that it was her time to transition. When the daughter arrived, she was so kind, offering me the cot in the room to rest. She was in the space of total love; filling the room with a higher softness that flowed as free as it was wide. It was an energy so vast that it felt like she could reach the farthest corners of the universe, right through the center of everyone she came in contact with. As the daughter wanted me to stay when she arrived, I sat quietly, to be there for any signs when I could offer help. That was when the daughter tenderly wrapped her pinky around her Mother’s pinky. I couldn’t help but imagine her daughter as an infant wrapping her tiny hand around her Mother’s pinky as I have witnessed many times in life. I also couldn’t help but wonder what their earthly bodies and pinkie fingers were expressing through the meridians that I was learning about. It was then that I realized they were connecting through their heart meridians. So sweetly I imagined love and spirit running through their locked fingers. With each story, poem, song, and light filled exchange that you share, I can feel that same kind of energy of love and kindness. It runs through the center of both the little as well as the universal spaces of our hearts and I believe our souls. Thank you Carrie.
I too lost my beautiful mom last October after her long battle with Alzheimer’s. There were many moments that I felt like I reached my mom trapped deep down inside her sick body. Times that I can say..ahhh now that was my mom. I seemed to be the only one that could reach her in that manner. An odd feeling would overcome me when these moments took place. As I held her hand as she passed from this world to the next there was a moment of sheer peace and calm, a release of the stress and tension that this disease produced. It was then I knew she was free.
I also sat at the bedside of my best friend holding her hand as she passed from this world to the next. We had this special bond and it lasted until her final breath. It was if she was waiting for me before she left this world. I felt a connection between us in those last moments.
Thank you Carrie for this wonderful poem. Just like you!!🥰
I came upon this goldfinch who had taken her last breath near the outdoor Chapel in the Woods alter on my morning walk. I brought her home and honored her in a little ceremony. I just opened your Titmouse song and decided you singing your Titmouse tribute would finish my goodby and honoring. Thank you.
There is a woman at church who embodies light. Always a smile and story to share. Even as her health challenges increase, her light continues to shine.
I loved your poem “The Titmouse.” It was so real, serene and humble. You inspire me to keep writing, keep exploring, and to keep living fully into the mystery of life until death. Thank you.
Ohh wow your titmouse poem is lovely Carrie. Like you are.
It stirred up memories of me praying for a wood louse on my kitchen floor and offering a little bit of banana and water for this tiny creature. I felt at one with.
I also have other memories of seeing the light in peoples eyes as we shared a time together and shared oneness with the acknowledgement of experiences felt by single people of the freedom we have Feeling empowerment
A beautiful poem. For me, it affirms the union of the finite and the infinite in mystery. Also, there's a heartfelt sense of grieving in the poem. Thanks.
It is the Sunday past Ash Wednesday, and I am slowly catching up on these beautiful posts. This one resonated with me, Carrie...I was somehow teary-eyed, thinking back to all the times (as a young child) I was determined to rescue dying birds or small animals I would somehow find in or near my yard. I never really saved them, but like you offered kind, warm, and loving space for them to step into the next realm.
This was a perfect reflection of where we all are today.....offering our kindness to others on the journey.
That's what we all have inside us....some buried a bit deeper than others...but kindness is there, just waiting to be shared.
Thank you for your words...and voice! I loved listening to you this morning. ✌️💚🎶☘️🕊
"The Titmouse" is so relevant to every living being - the older any of us get the more we tend to live in the past. Memories take a disproportionate amount of our bandwidth. And even more so, reflecting on how we fit into natures web. I'm glad you were there to make one beautiful creature's life and passing - a little easier. A good purpose for all of us.
I am currently reading a book called "The Physics of God" by Joseph Selbie. Your poem about the dying titmouse brings to mind an principle put forth in this book - everything is energy and death is not the cessation of the living energy but the withdrawal of this energy from the current container or physical form of said energy.
So lovely. I can remember a year where baby robins fell from the next. Just born really. Looked like they were struggling. Mom did not return and I took them to a local bird rescue. Holding their infinitesimally small bodies was so scary and humbling. Their skin paper thin. The expert there explained they had some disease that was ripe that year. The mothers push them out to die and don’t return. There is no way to recover. The woman there was able to euthanize them and said it was a kind act because otherwise they starve to death. It was such a sad experience but warm that I could show a kindness to the tiniest newborns. This poem reminds me of that.
Recently, a mourning dove flew into my glass kitchen door. As she laid there on the sidewalk, I felt so sad and such a closeness with her. I knew she was dying. I was with her, and buried her close to my house so I could be with her.
We learned about the "Inner Light" growing up in Quaker Meeting. It is a blessed practice to meet and greet others with "the light in me salutes the light in you".
I was doing hospice work at the same time as studying continuing education in the healing arts for body work, and was learning about the body’s meridians. And around that time I was doing a night shift to offer every comfort and aide possible. In the middle of the night, the nurse called the patient’s daughter. Her Mother was starting to show signs that it was her time to transition. When the daughter arrived, she was so kind, offering me the cot in the room to rest. She was in the space of total love; filling the room with a higher softness that flowed as free as it was wide. It was an energy so vast that it felt like she could reach the farthest corners of the universe, right through the center of everyone she came in contact with. As the daughter wanted me to stay when she arrived, I sat quietly, to be there for any signs when I could offer help. That was when the daughter tenderly wrapped her pinky around her Mother’s pinky. I couldn’t help but imagine her daughter as an infant wrapping her tiny hand around her Mother’s pinky as I have witnessed many times in life. I also couldn’t help but wonder what their earthly bodies and pinkie fingers were expressing through the meridians that I was learning about. It was then that I realized they were connecting through their heart meridians. So sweetly I imagined love and spirit running through their locked fingers. With each story, poem, song, and light filled exchange that you share, I can feel that same kind of energy of love and kindness. It runs through the center of both the little as well as the universal spaces of our hearts and I believe our souls. Thank you Carrie.
Thank you Sue Remik.😊.
Have you any moments of experiencing the sacred in the ordinaryness of things?
Please share.
Bests
Ann Siddique
I too lost my beautiful mom last October after her long battle with Alzheimer’s. There were many moments that I felt like I reached my mom trapped deep down inside her sick body. Times that I can say..ahhh now that was my mom. I seemed to be the only one that could reach her in that manner. An odd feeling would overcome me when these moments took place. As I held her hand as she passed from this world to the next there was a moment of sheer peace and calm, a release of the stress and tension that this disease produced. It was then I knew she was free.
I also sat at the bedside of my best friend holding her hand as she passed from this world to the next. We had this special bond and it lasted until her final breath. It was if she was waiting for me before she left this world. I felt a connection between us in those last moments.
Thank you Carrie for this wonderful poem. Just like you!!🥰
I came upon this goldfinch who had taken her last breath near the outdoor Chapel in the Woods alter on my morning walk. I brought her home and honored her in a little ceremony. I just opened your Titmouse song and decided you singing your Titmouse tribute would finish my goodby and honoring. Thank you.
There is a woman at church who embodies light. Always a smile and story to share. Even as her health challenges increase, her light continues to shine.
I loved your poem “The Titmouse.” It was so real, serene and humble. You inspire me to keep writing, keep exploring, and to keep living fully into the mystery of life until death. Thank you.
Such a soothing reading of a lovely poem.
Ohh wow your titmouse poem is lovely Carrie. Like you are.
It stirred up memories of me praying for a wood louse on my kitchen floor and offering a little bit of banana and water for this tiny creature. I felt at one with.
I also have other memories of seeing the light in peoples eyes as we shared a time together and shared oneness with the acknowledgement of experiences felt by single people of the freedom we have Feeling empowerment
a Stunning and compassionate poem that turns into its own gentle wisdom.
thank you for the breadth of consciousness that led to such a stirring piece of poetry!