A Middle-aged Leaf

I asked for a dream that would help me and I dreamed of a colorful maple leaf floating on a still lake.

My friend said the maple leaf has no ability to manipulate its path or change its destination. He said it's controlled by the flow of the lake and will eventually be washed onto shore and left, as the water continues on its path.

I'm glad it wasn't his dream.

I think the beautiful maple leaf was at the end of her season on the tree.  Once a yellow-green bud, she'd grown into a large green leaf - one of hundreds of thousands.  She worked hard with photosynthesis, providing shade for what was below, providing protection for bird, squirrel, and beings she didn't even know.  She often provided a meal for a small worm or two.  She turned her face to greet the sun each day.  Then over the course of a few day she turned red and yellow and seemed to shimmer in the autumn sun.

One day she just let go.  She floated gently down and landed on the silver lake beneath her branch.  She enjoyed being held and gently rocked there.  It was another season, though a shorter one.  She became a raft for dragonfly faeries and a nursery for water insects and a model for a photographer. The water grew colder and it pulled her down where she lay on the sand and rocks under the water. 

There she completed releasing her energy.  She was no longer leaf.  She became snail, fertile mud, insect, fish, oxygen, nitrogen and the cycle continued.

Answers to Musical Questions.

1.  If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh, why can't I?
    You are not a bird.

2. Why do fools fall in love?
    Non-fools know better.

3. Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?
    Those are vultures and you're on your last leg.

4. How much is that doggy in the window?
    It had better be a shelter window because no one should buy animals from pet shops.

5. What was that promise that you made?
    Never to tell you your zipper is down.

6. Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
    He's just been out riding fences without a saddle for too damn long.

7. Will you still love me tomorrow?
    Tomorrow maybe, next week. . . . not so sure.

8.  Why do the stars go on shining, the sea keep on rushing to shore?
     The light from millions of stars is just now reaching our atmosphere; usually it's the  gravitational pull of  the moon  which creates tides and the mixing of cold and warmer water which creates motion.  However, if a big earthquake happens or a big ol' space rock hits the ocean, it may cause a tsunami.

9.  How'd she get them trousers on?
     She got flat on her back on her bed and pulled and tugged at them, zipping them while a girlfriend pulled   the snaps together.

10.  Are the stars out tonight?
      They are there, though whether or not you see them depends on ambient light, cloud cover, your eyesight and whether or not there are trees or buildings in the line of sight.

God is where I live and move and have my being.

I think Moses, Christ, the Buddah, and Mohammed had some very nice ideas, but then people got carried away with interpretting and rephrasing and getting all anal about the whole thing.

Trees aren't like that. They grow against all odds into huge, kind beings. They are strong and resilient. They give and give and give, and then they give. That's all.

Water isn't like religions, either. All water is holy and we do well to remember that. It gives and gives and gives and then it gives. That's all. It continues. It cycles.

The air, the ground - these are the things that save us, just as they saved Jesus and Buddah and Mohammed, if indeed they existed. We know the Earth exists. Here She is. We are part of Her. There is no need to organize or make rules. She's already done that, physics, biology.  We just haven't learned them all yet.

Even when the Earth quakes, the rivers flood, the tornadoes use the trees as missiles or fires burn them - even in destruction they give.

We people fancy ourselves so important as to be able to make the rules, make gods in our image. What funny little fleas (no disrespect meant to fleas). We are incidental bothers, destroyers or appreciaters.

And yet even in our appreciation we receive a gift. Our gift of appreciation of the beauty in which we are enveloped is increased.

I'm reminded of a line from a song from Godspell, All Good Gifts. "No gift have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts, but that which Thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts."  But I don't really think Earth is holding Her breath waiting for us to be greatful. She's much bigger than that.

To me being a Pantheist does not mean that I am not a Christian or a Buddhist or a Flying Spaghettian. I believe Pantheism is just so much bigger than all those. It must include them all, because all they are is people and people are of the Earth.