{"product_id":"2940152915631","title":"The River of Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo Utter Words of Thanks\u003cbr\u003eMy lies to myself\u003cbr\u003eLeft stains on the walls here\u003cbr\u003eWhere I have my roots deep in my mother earth\u003cbr\u003eWhere I plant my words\u003cbr\u003eAnd harvest them in poetry\u003cbr\u003eAs the years pass into decades\u003cbr\u003eIn this place I call home\u003cbr\u003eThe harvests surprise even me\u003cbr\u003eWisdom leaves its signs\u003cbr\u003eLike stretch marks on a mother’s girth\u003cbr\u003eRing the wind chimes and ceremonial bells out back\u003cbr\u003eAttract other life\u003cbr\u003eHear my calls to Great Mystery\u003cbr\u003eThe wailing-wall inside\u003cbr\u003eNow becomes the place\u003cbr\u003eTo utter words of thanks\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMars\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003eMars seen through clear greenish blue eyes\u003cbr\u003eA hot reddish white dot in the sky\u003cbr\u003eOn a planet circling the sun, earth’s sister in space\u003cbr\u003eII\u003cbr\u003eWe were swimming in a river at flood stage\u003cbr\u003eHeading downstream for a bridge and huge terrifying\u003cbr\u003eRapids were in the way\u003cbr\u003eSomehow got over to the tip of an island and hung on\u003cbr\u003eSaw other people swimming\u003cbr\u003eAsking “How do we get to land safely?”\u003cbr\u003eAfraid we would die\u003cbr\u003eAnd then I woke up, realized I’d been dreaming\u003cbr\u003eA sigh of relief\u003cbr\u003eIII\u003cbr\u003eIt was a good vacation\u003cbr\u003eRelaxing as vacations should be\u003cbr\u003eGood weather, pounding ocean waves, good company\u003cbr\u003eAnd now we’re home\u003cbr\u003eCatching up to where we should be\u003cbr\u003eIV\u003cbr\u003eSomeday there will be air tight settlements on Mars\u003cbr\u003eWondering how many more cycles\u003cbr\u003eBefore walking on the green, green grass of Earth\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003eSolitary miners dredging and digging, panning\u003cbr\u003efor gold, afraid someone will steal their secret place\u003cbr\u003eTheir wives and husbands reticent, hiding other\u003cbr\u003esecrets in ugly places off rivers of blood\u003cbr\u003eWho to believe in a world of liars and thieves?\u003cbr\u003eYellow teeth and smoke filled lungs, implants and\u003cbr\u003ecrystallized drugs\u003cbr\u003eThere are times to trust and times to disagree,\u003cbr\u003ethere are still good honest people near me\u003cbr\u003eSo many of us will sell our souls at the right price,\u003cbr\u003esometimes too cheap, if offered right\u003cbr\u003eII\u003cbr\u003eWho am I to judge anything?\u003cbr\u003eIf I could live my life like a monk, one foot in this\u003cbr\u003ecorruption stained world, the other outside of it\u003cbr\u003espiritually clean, my anchor to God\u003cbr\u003eIf I could trust God in all things, no matter what,\u003cbr\u003eI would be free, even if He pulled out all my teeth, took\u003cbr\u003eall my money, left me to write poetry, live in a house\u003cbr\u003efull of beautiful art, gave me enough food to eat, a good\u003cbr\u003ewoman to love, loyalty, peace, why would I fear anything\u003cbr\u003eknowing in the end both feet would be spiritually clean\u003cbr\u003eThen all is well, I need not worry, my life\u003cbr\u003estands like a tree raising its many arms to the sun,\u003cbr\u003emeditating on the meaning of its life catching every\u003cbr\u003ebit of light it can, accepting everything that happens\u003cbr\u003eequally, unable to change anything outside itself\u003cbr\u003ebeing part of everything\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Patrick J. Leach","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182737604848,"sku":"2940152915631","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940152915631_p0.jpg?v=1764028932","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940152915631","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}