Day 993: Sunday, December 4, 2022

A Nativity remembrance from Russ and Judy Dieter

soft snow caressing trees in amazing shapes

From our dear friend Russ Dieter who found this photo from years past:

Judy and I were with Alice Waco and Bill McGee in a Northstar Condo near Lake Tahoe the morning after a winter snow. Looking out the window we beheld a nativity scene provided by nature.

2 poems by Wendell Berry to celebrate this image of a snowy creche:

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear

in the ancient faith: what we need

is here. And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye,

clear. What we need is here.

Woods

I part the out thrusting branches and come in beneath the blessed and the blessing trees. Though I am silent there is singing around me. Though I am dark there is vision around me. Though I am heavy there is flight around me.