Leigh Travis Dalby is a resident of Herndon, Virginia and a member of the Dranesville Church of the Brethren.
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Sanctuary
Sanctuary
By Leigh Travis Dalby
The pathway which wound its way past the broken gate
climbed through the thick velvet covered forest like a ribbon;
one that coils and snaps, one that entices feet to walk
one whose pebbled surface and thicket filled borders, leans
from this side and that, under the starry night and noon
under the full shining face of an August full moon
where crickets share places in the grasshopper’s choir
where the red breasted robin sleeps in its tree-top palace
where angels watch from just above the tallest oak
and clouds move a thousand miles without a sound
until the moment of thunder clap and rain on the ground;
a place for refuge winding alongside the aged river
a place to rest the head or quench a thirsty tongue
a place built from trees and birdsong yet unsung.
And because the maker was so kind in building all of this
and because thy heart beats so furiously when led to this place
thy mouth awakens as if set free from bondage and grief
to be a visitor here and to stand under the oaken leaf
is the most precious of blessings one can endure;
for the beauty of this place nurses thy soul like a mother
one whose lovingness soothes the skin like a burning fire
one whose own heart swells like a mountainous desire
rising and falling with each breath that is breathed;
the pathway, too, beats beneath my feet, and thought
and all living creatures and all that nature has wrought,
the pine, the lily, the moss, even this poet who was lost
but it happened that a pathway appeared one day in this wood
and thy whole life changed from the dark of evil to the light of good.
Leigh Travis Dalby is a resident of Herndon, Virginia and a member of the Dranesville Church of the Brethren.
If anyone is interested in submitting a faith article, please contact Mark Gunderman at gunderman2001@aol.com.
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