Depths
“Ephphatha”*
"Open Up"
Down, down deep
into the depths I plunge,
sounding for the bottom in fathoms
dive to expunge.
Down, down deep
the water courses over me, in
protective rush of foam
across my eternity.
Down, down deep
my body points in arrow flight,
single in its purpose, its
object out of sight.
Down, down deep
a veil awaits, through the
eye of a needle the thread of a camel
still to navigate. **
Morrill Road
Click for meditationRegarding "Morrill Road"
There is a road, a magical,
Spiritual one, which leads me into the
Woods in Morrill, Maine.
It is not like the fantastical
Yellow Brick Road of “Wizard of Oz”
Fame, but every time I visit
These Maine woods I travel down this
Road as I descend deeper
And deeper into a “different”
World – – into a world which is as
Different from my normal
Existence as could possibly be…
I recently traversed this
Road once again as part of
Returning for several
Nights to a cabin in these
Woods, which at one time
I had visited annually
Every autumn for 21
Straight years. As I’ve
Detailed already in another
Associated meditation, there was
“Something” which was
Not the “same” this
Abbreviated time around.
The biggest contributor
To things seeming changed
Were not the woods,
Themselves, but me…!
For I had changed, as much
If not more than any
Tree or branch or stream
Or animal or anything I would
See…! And this change
Played out as I
Reflected upon those
Things I encountered, such as a
Remnant, colonial-era
Homestead and its
Surviving cellar hole…and a
Myriad of other things
I once knew years and years ago. …
To re-visit these things, I
Had descended what on a
Topographical map is only referred
To as a “Jeep Trail,” but in
My mind is a one-of-a kind
Portal Into a deep,
Spiritual world of unimaginable
Eye-openings and magical
Goings-on…
Leo Carroll
December 9, 2019
Jeep Trail
What a wonderful road,
Its ruts and rocks and grooves painted like
A mural up’n the melting snow!
It winds like a pathway
Interconnecting
Spiritual things…and oh the
Wisdom of its compass
Heading…especially when I
Am filled with the anticipation of
Where its portal leads…!
Thanksgiving
E’en aft all the glorious
Things this earth has already seen,
Can still be found such a
Lovely, holy road, and it leads
To a blessed place where
Seated I can witness as all about
To the Lord sings…
Daffodils
Click for meditationRegarding "Daffodils"
It came to me
That my own pilgrim’s path
Resembles the
Seasonal flow of my
Garden in a four-part act, with
The fresh growth of
Springtime’s hope and
Rebirth akin to my
Ever-evolving
Renewal, followed
By the endurance
Required in the summer
Heat of July…a
Metaphor for the
Endless twists and turns of
The human condition
As it sits the beach of
Low and high tides…
And then the final
Burst of color and beauty
In autumn, before
Plunging again
Into the deep sleep
Of winter, only to
Arise again in April,
Pointed and poised to
Resume my journey,
But always bowed by the
Growing pains of
Bloom in my
Season of change…
Leo Carroll
May 7, 2019
…One of the first
Fruits of spring — daffodils
Buttery-yellow and
Dangling from the
Ear lobes of morning —
And at their feet
In fealty, the remnants of a
Once-magnificent,
Autumn leaf, placed by
Winter’s wind and
Now a companion
And witness to
The fresh shoots
Of daylilies green,
And all of these
Stirrings staring into
The stoic eyes of
Garden stones, the
Singular thread
Stitching together
My rock garden
As my shifting
Seasons unfold…
In Retrospect, Ode to Walden Pond
Click for meditationRegarding "In Retrospect, Ode to Walden Pond"
The only way I can
Describe Walden Pond is to say that
It exists, but its existence
Is more like a dream, or a daydream, or better
Still – like something make believe,
Maybe like the magical movie,
“The Wizard of Oz,” where
Judy Garland dances
And sings her way through every
Fantastical landscape
And situation.
Walden Pond seems…
Well, perfect! That is the
Only way it can be
Described, a place for
All seasons, all depths and
Fathoms and temperatures of its
Peridot waters, all shapes
And hues of its leaves,
All hopes and possibilities
As they lead down rough-hewn
Stone steps to the water’s edge,
All laughs and wishes,
All lightheartedness, all hopes,
All, all…and it is found in
Concord, year round, every year, and
Even in darkest winter it is
A wonder, at cold sunset,
At anytime, because as
Dorothy says to Toto,
“I’ve a feeling we’re not in
Kansas any more…”
Leo Carroll
May 12, 2018
If I never swim again,
At least once in your sweet waters
I will have done…
I will have felt the joy
And rush of your precious
Peridot, and know
In your fathoms I was
Made welcome.
Even now in winter, with
Your surface iced-o’er
And cold become,
In my mind lives my first dive,
When I felt the summer
Warmth of the
Beauty I plumbed…