Inspiration: 

“He lay very high, on the back of the world. 

The earth thrilled beneath him. 

Red flowers grew through his flesh; 

their stiff leaves rustled by his head.” 

– Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf. 1925 (p. 103) 

Response: 

This is a man of the earth, a man who 

Cannot separate himself from his roots, who 

Is sure of nothing but the dirt under the soles of his feet, who 

Can comprehend the complexity of a spider’s web, who 

Rides upon the spinning planet. 

This is a man who often leaves the ground for the sky, who 

Climbs the pine tree to his right and the oak to his left, who 

Sways in the wind with the branches. 

A man who follows the lead of Mary Oliver, who 

Knows that he need not “walk on his knees for a hundred miles 

Through the desert repenting.” 

A man who constantly lets the “soft animal of his body 

Love what it loves,” who 

Tells his truth to the dog at his side and 

Lets its fur soak up his tears.