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September 9, 2002 ~ A Forest Hymn
Monday.
The Groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
And spread the roof above them--ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication. For his simple heart
Might not resist the sacred influences
Which, from the stilly twilight of the place,
And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven
Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound
Of the invisible breath that swayed at once
All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed
His spirit with the thought of boundless power
And inaccessible majesty. Ah, why
Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised? Let me, at least,
Here, in the shallow of this aged wood,
Offer one hymn...
~From "A Forest Hymn," by William Cullen Bryant
I skipped Quaker Meeting yesterday in favor of a hiking trip through the forest up Looking Glass Rock. Such excursions are my most pure form of worship anyway.
To walk beneath that canopy, to hear the leaves whisper in the breeze, to feel the entire forest sway in the wind, to jump over creeks and watch for roots in the trail, to hear nothing but birds, trees, and my own breath... I am closest to the Infinite at those moments.
The quiet peace of a walk in the forest will set me right at every level. Worries slip away, and I feel whole, at rest, in love... Shantih, "the peace which passeth understanding."
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