{"id":29963,"date":"2021-11-27T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T00:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=29963"},"modified":"2021-11-27T16:44:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T00:44:13","slug":"of-snakes-ladders-and-the-well-a-zen-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2021\/11\/of-snakes-ladders-and-the-well-a-zen-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"Of Snakes, Ladders, and the Well: a Zen Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

All summer I made friends
\nWith the creatures nearby \u2013
\nThey flowed through the fields
\nAnd under the tent walls,
\nOr padded through the door,
\nGrinning through their many teeth,
\nLooking for seeds,
\nSuet, sugar; muttering and humming,
\nOpening the breadbox, happiest when
\nThere was milk and music. But once
\nIn the night I heard a sound
\nOutside the door, the canvas
\nBulged slightly \u2013 something
\nWas pressing inward at eye level.
\nI watched, trembling, sure I had heard
\nThe click of claws, the smack of lips
\nOutside my gauzy house \u2013
\nI imagined the red eyes,
\nThe broad tongue, the enormous lap.
\nWould it be friendly too?
\nFear defeated me. And yet,
\nNot in faith and not in madness
\nBut with the courage I thought
\nMy dream deserved,
\nI stepped outside. It was gone.
\nThen I whirled at the sound of some
\nShambling tonnage.
\nDid I see a black haunch slipping
\nBack through the trees? Did I see
\nThe moonlight shining on it?
\nDid I actually reach out my arms
\nToward it, toward paradise falling, like
\nThe fading of the dearest, wildest hope \u2013
\nThe dark heart of the story that is all
\nThe reason for its telling?<\/em><\/p>\n

Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

Of Snakes, Ladders, and the Well<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

A Zen Meditation<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

James Ishmael Ford<\/p>\n