Blessings to you all as we enjoy a week of fall here in Central New Mexico. This is a poem that has great meaning for me and I share it with you today because I saw a grasshopper, slowed by the cold weather, but still making its way up the wall on my house this morning. I hope you enjoy!



A Blessing and Charge to All of Us Grasshoppers Gathered Here

By Michael Coffey

What a relief and what a cause of humility

right down to my exoskeleton.

The shaping of the earth

and the timing of the rains.

The rising of the sun 

and the spreading of the stars

on the sky fabric.

The making and crowning of kings

and the dethroning of prideful powers

does not depend on me,

a grasshopper in the

field of the world.

But the world does depend on me 

to hop and nibble on the grass

to stop and take notice 

with my compound eyes,

the sun and the sky,

the muscle and immodesty of kings.

And with my mandibles in full song

let praise and protest

rise up above me.

You are the light of the world.



Your servant,



Lynne

NMCC Conference Director