Baba’s Poem
by Elizabeth Erb

My mind can spin and get stuck in high speed
Cranking out stories and thoughts and beliefs.
They narrate my walks,
Burst in on my talk,
Wear me down; bore, and exhaust me.

But Nature embodies a Love divine
Whose surprising delights strip the gears of my mind –
It slams to a stop.
My heart then fills to the top…
With joy, contentment, and grace sublime.

Author's Note: I spent almost two weeks at the Baba Center in Myrtle Beach a few years ago. Wandering the mile-long undeveloped beach and the 500 acres of virgin forest daily was a balm to my soul. Every Sunday night there is a “Songs of the Divine” program where people share their poetry. I locked myself into the Lagoon cabin the second Sunday morning determined not to leave without a poem to share that evening. I imagined a Mary Oliver- or Annie Dillard-type prose poem with amazing descriptive strings of words that would capture the beauty I had lived and walked and played in for days.... But what emerged was a Seuss-ian limerick-type short poem. And it was perfect. It told the story of my stay: of me and my mind impacted by the natural world.

I live near the church, garden in my yard, love playing with my rain barrels (a seven year water management plan still in the making!). I play with colors, quilt, and am a nurse.