Earth’s hot blood rises, bursts, and pours,
Scabs rough black across the plains,
Sinks, boils again, and rises slow;
Cools, congeals, as crystals grow;

Then lifts the crust to wind and rains
That cut by streams that wash down grains
Through canyons steep
that memories keep
in layers deep,
And open out to fans and dunes
in bottom lands beside the seas.

O churning Earth!
with jutting slabs
and snowbound peaks
and stippled plains
and tumbling creeks
That swell the souls
but shrink the pride
of mortals who
across you stride…
 
ABOUT JIM BURKLO
Website: JIMBURKLO.COM Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
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Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California