Day 69: Something binds it all together

Something binds it all together—

forest, field, canyon, and coast.

The edges of things when we look close

are missing—our mind alone thinks whether

we use this name and not another.

Which is not to deny there's difference:

each thing is certain that it is

no other.  A cottonwood is not

a rock. A rabbit is not a hawk.

Junipers grow here and firs grow there.

The ocean eventually ends in sand.

But what strikes me more than 

the differences in land, is continuity,

the shared destiny of each stand

of trees or shrubs or lichened rock.

A great cycle of effects turns always

even in the farthest place—and mountains,

deserts, woods, and water

all together make a space where we

see both: whole and part, different and same—

the everything that transcends

each name and also gives names

their breath and flame.

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We have experienced many different ecosystems already, and appreciate how this way of traveling allows for a special kind of perspective: we stay long enough to feel the unique character of a place, but move on soon enough to recognize the way it is linked to the next very-different place. Not sure if I have quite captured what is in the back of my mind yet, but I thought I would go ahead and put this out so I can set it aside and work on the next post. Click here for a small photo album of some of the ecosystem variety we have seen so far. Photos include Cape Disappointment, Skamakowa on the Columbia River, the Willamette Valley, then over the Cascades to Sisters, Oregon; Malheur NWR, OR; Steens Mountain, OR; and Bruneau Sand Dunes in southern Idaho.