ABSOLUTION

Photo by S. Auberle

Though I now appreciate the beauty and the gifts
of the religion in which I was raised--Catholicism,
there was a period of searching for me during which I
found my religion in Nature. That is still very true
today--I find nothing in this world more sacred than
the song of an elk on an autumn night, the moon-shadowed
mountain, an eagle soaring overhead. I believe God
resides in all of these...and me...

ABSOLUTION

I grew in rocky ground, it's true,
but who are you, preacher-man,
to absolve me of my sins?

What do you know of woman-sins?
I know them all
and I know how to heal them--

not in your church
but on this mountain--
this old, granite Mother

among her tall children, where
I hear her music
flowing through me

through these aspen,
that spiraling hawk,
and the fly crawling beside me,

where the trees and I
are growing strong,
skyward, praising,

always praising
that stony ground
from which we grew.

- mimi