Hymn

My eldest son, Dan, is marrying his lovely girlfriend today. The ceremony and celebration are taking place in the San Juans.

I'm here with Dan's grandmother, his uncles, and my fiancé. My youngest son is Dan's best man. And I get to read a poem at the ceremony.

The poem is "Hymn" by AR Ammons and I want to share excerpts of it with you in this post:

"I know if I find you I will have to leave the earth and go on out
over the sea marshes and the brant in bays
and over the hills of tall hickory
and over the crater lakes and canyons
and on up through the spheres of diminishing air . . .

"And I know if I find you I will have to stay with the earth
inspecting with thin tools and ground eyes
trusting the microvilli sporangia and simplest coelenterates...

". . . and if I find you I must go out deep into your far resolutions
and if I find you I must stay here with the separate leaves"

Photos of Cascade Lake and a path to it, Orcas Island, by Mark Carleton.