Three days of rain

Rocky Broad River, North Carolina

Three days of rain
and the thunderous Rocky Broad
rushes by my window, high, brown and roiling.
Kayakers scoot through the sluices!
Brown eddies swirl around the boulders,
the river roaring, roaring.
Above our heads, the gentle Hickory Nut Falls
blithely cascades over the long rock face.
I am transported in this roaring, rushing Spring.
The World has come back!  And loudly!
I release all my Winter’s stiffening.
The easy time is here!
A grey mist comes settling down
from the mountain peaks above me,
drawing me into this soft, moist world,
this roaring world,
supporting me, feeding me,
carrying me through once more.

Annelinde Metzner
Hickory Nut Gorge 
April 19, 2015

Saint Francis at Hawkscry

St. Francis at Hawkscry

Falling in the mud!  Oh, no!
The St. Francis statue,
for thirty years at the neighbor’s house,
suffered severe neglect,
and a preponderance of falling over.
William, faithful and kind,
lifted Francis out of the mud.
Now Francis sits regally on his pedestal,
surveying this green domain,
prayer flags over his shoulder.
Gentle Francis, they say,
who learned to love all beings,
walked with a bird on his shoulder, and sang.
Teacher of kindness, of course you attract
more kindness from this alert neighbor.
Francis, this is a peaceful place. Welcome!
Cast your sweet grace
for miles around.

Annelinde Metzner
Hawkscry
May 15, 2015


 Many thanks to my dear friends Jane and William Stanhope for letting me write at their beautiful sanctuary called Hawkscry in Sandy Mush Valley.

Hawkscry cabin

Hawkscry shrine

Angel bird bath

Hawkscry sky

Flying Is Just Learning By Doing

Flying is just learning by doing.
Three ospreys (then more, then more!)
announce themselves with a raucous caw,
spread their wings wide,
and fly out over the mile-high expanse,
Thunder Hill.
Right over my head they come,
so I face into the sun,
and then the moon, a tiny crescent.
Raaaack!  they cry
to get my attention,
and I see, with the high mountain wind,
the slight shifts of tail feathers,
rudders in the wind,
the bend and curve as they rise higher and higher.
I remember, in those dreams,
you can fly higher and higher,
just go!  You have your wings,
the wind will take you, you can bend-
Flying is just learning by doing,
after the first great thrust into the air.

Annelinde Metzner

May 20, 2009