• Flying Diamonds

 

Setting: on the Journey at Pine Springs Ranch, San Jacinto Mountains, Southern California.

 

Yesterday’s cirrus cloud precursors were correct.

A storm has arrived.

    I sit at my window,

        entranced by the play of cloud and wind above Apple Canyon.

    A cloud completely covers Spitler Peak today,

        and threatens to hide Apache Saddle at sunrise,

            in contrast to the glorious spectacular yesterday.

 

Masses of cloud race from west to east,

        driven by dancing wind.

    They smash into Apache Peak and the Desert Divide,

shatter into curls, ribbons and sheets,

    and are deflected downslope by the mountain ramparts.

    Remnants of the cloud mass

    in the ravine between Apache Saddle and Spitler Peak

        embody the dance of the wind.

            Downdrafts and updrafts spiral next to each other,

                faster, slower, separately, together, or all at the same time.

 

I contemplate the Spirit,

    who blows whenever, however, and wherever he wants,

        full of power and wisdom and fire,

            always ready and willing,

    waiting for a vessel to fill.

        Will I be open?

 

Higher in the sky the clouds fly even more rapidly,

    but with enough gaps to show blue sky

        to make the scene beautifully dramatic.

    [Last night smaller clouds scurried ahead of the storm,

        allowing spectacular views between them

            as they raced across the nearly full moon

                and gave fleeting glimpses of stars, Jupiter and Saturn.]

 

A burst of rain races ahead of wind driving from multiple directions,

        but trending up the canyon.

    Raindrops and mist fly every which way.

        Suddenly the sun blazes through a slit in the clouds.

    Instantly the valley from western ridge to eastern mountain

        fills with flying diamonds.

I shout with the Psalmist,

    "O Lord, my Sovereign,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!" [Psalm 8:1]

 

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