Monday, March 16, 2009
Who We Are
Who We Are
Some are air,
flitting and sailing
from place to place,
never settled,
felt only after they have passed by.
Others are like water,
constantly flowing
taking on new forms,
parting sometimes
to embrace small islands
in their path,
or else taking the shape of
containers which define them,
vase, bank, or shore.
Earth holds fast,
never stirs
unless it is touched
by things outside—
hurricanes, machines, floods,
falling trees.
Its devotion
keeps the world steady.
Fire devours all,
orange tongues flaring,
brilliance of creator/destroyer,
Some are air,
flitting and sailing
from place to place,
never settled,
felt only after they have passed by.
Others are like water,
constantly flowing
taking on new forms,
parting sometimes
to embrace small islands
in their path,
or else taking the shape of
containers which define them,
vase, bank, or shore.
Earth holds fast,
never stirs
unless it is touched
by things outside—
hurricanes, machines, floods,
falling trees.
Its devotion
keeps the world steady.
Fire devours all,
orange tongues flaring,
brilliance of creator/destroyer,
begetting beauty,
turning everything back
to origins,
earth, air, water of the beginning.
Dorothy Walters
March 16, 2008
Note: In early centuries, it was thought that everything was composed of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. In the Renaissance, the notion of four was applied to the “Four Temperaments,” said to account for all the human types. This poem is a mix of the two concepts.
turning everything back
to origins,
earth, air, water of the beginning.
Dorothy Walters
March 16, 2008
Note: In early centuries, it was thought that everything was composed of the four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. In the Renaissance, the notion of four was applied to the “Four Temperaments,” said to account for all the human types. This poem is a mix of the two concepts.
