And Then The Cranes Come....

  
It is Elul a question mark of a month  we ask who        and how and what we have harmed. I've said they  they have harmed the earth   then I said we  we have damaged the earth    and now I say I   I have harmed the earth and each day I chant
                             deforestation
                      degradation  
                  extinction
              pollution
and I pray for Her  (out on my deck in the fire-sickened air) and name one   fracking   toxic waste
after another but there are more ways we have damaged the earth than there are days of Elul  tomorrow is the last day of Elul and there is more to name before the New Year begins 

California is on fire   are the gods in retreat watching our mourning our grief our worry   have they decided there is nothing they can do for us since we are their hands?                           

A bird lands near me
  the simplicity of sweetness      the bird flies up to the tree which the fire department says is too close to the chimney  

On New Year we will dip an apple in honey                              But for now?

Two things I had to learn before I found sweetness -             1.The endangered Siberian crane called Omid in Farsi which means hope winters in rice fields on the Caspian sea.                2. When a Muslim leaves on a journey the Koran is held over their head to ensure their return.                                                                    

In her painting Naeemeh Naeemaei wears the white of cranes  she holds the holy book over the head of the bird   over the head of Omid   over the head of Hope