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Exquisite poem, Chris. Thank you for connecting dots. Is this perhaps a
touch like the Glass Bead Game?
<p>BJ Peters
<p>Chris Weaver wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>Hi List,
<p>I'm enjoying the thread about boundaries. Lately I am engaged
in a community conversation in my workplace about <i>tools for responsive
teaching...</i>or about<i> holding space for childrens' creativity.</i>
As my colleagues and I have delved deeply into the question of what creativity
is and what supports it, I have found myself thinking, without knowing
why, about the idea of <i>spiritual obedience. </i>In fact I am rather
relishing the notion of obedience, and I think it has something to do with
the secret power of boundaries. Honoring structure, holding structure,
and why, and which.
<p>Anyhoo, I wrote a poem.
<br>
<p><font color="#0000FF">Talking to Noah</font>
<p><font color="#0000FF">I found him late in life</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">carving a piece of wood</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">by a dry stream bed.</font>
<p><font color="#0000FF"><i>You know, Grandfather,</i> I began,</font>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">I want to be as obedient as you.</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">Will you tell me about it?</font></i>
<p><font color="#0000FF">He had the kind of face</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">that didn1t need to smile.</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">His face was a smile.</font>
<p><font color="#0000FF"><i>Obedience,</i> he said, as if</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">hearing the word</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">for the first time.</font>
<p><font color="#0000FF">He looked up at me.</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF"><i>Yes,</i> he said.</font>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">I1ll tell you about it.</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">When I was a boy, I was shy</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">and besieged by a doubt</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">that no one could understand.</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">For a time it was like living</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">alone in an oven, looking out at people,</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">them in the cool air, me burning.</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">Then one day, a woman looked in at me.</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">She was old, and beautiful,</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF"> a shepherdess with dusty feet.</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">She recognized me, and held</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">out her hands. I took them,</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">and she pulled me out of there,</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">so smoothly, so naturally,</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">that I didn1t even have time</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">to be surprised.</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">That1s what it1s like</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">when your shackles get broken.</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">Sparks don1t fly. It1s like melting</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">ice, like opening your eyes</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">after sleep. We sat on a rock</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">and she held my hands in hers,</font></i>
<p><i><font color="#0000FF">turning them slowly, looking at them.</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">She was quiet for a long time,</font></i>
<br><i><font color="#0000FF">and finally she said,</font></i>
<p><font color="#0000FF">You pay attention, Noah.</font>
<br><font color="#0000FF">You1re going to build something.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br> </blockquote>
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