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10 Mar

I remember the sound of the river

Beth Blog 0 0

 

3A fallen officer’s funeral and so many gathered to say good-bye. A day off to attend to doctor’s appointments. So many  gathered for the funeral I chose to walk to each appointment. It seems like a lifetime ago when I would walk everywhere. Movement. My work now has me sitting all day save for those precious moments I step outside. At first the memories of so much walking bathed my soul and body as I re-discovered strength in my legs. I flashed back four years ago when I laid down in a mountain river next to the small green plants and froze in the river’s bath. I felt so alive as the cold waters rushed over and beside me. The rushing riverbed sand filled my shirt, shorts and caressed my body.  I began to laugh out loud as my body shivered to remember. A baptism.

As I passed the junior college where the funeral ceremony was being held my feet came to a halt to see all the cars. But it was the two fire trucks with ladders extended up and holding the largest American flag I’ve ever seen that stopped my momentum. Placing my hands to my heart I bowed towards the doorway where all were gathered. I bowed to the officers who stood on the balcony above the doorway and their trumpets shinning in the morning sun. As I started to bow to the flag I noticed the stars were dark in the sunlight. A brighter light.

This afternoon, wanting to keep moving I was drawn to my elliptical exerciser. The singer’s voice, Tina Malia, washed over me. One cannot stay in the baptismal river. One is baptized to arise and go forward. Life is fragile. Sometimes the breath of life leaving seems to blow out the candles of the night. But a brighter light shines. A day of remembrance. A day of remembering. And the whisper…. “Remember the sound of the river.” “I may wander far away…I am not afraid…”

I surrender
What else
Can I do
When every movement
Every breath
Brings me closer to you

In the center
Of perfection
There’s a river
Free from the holds
And this love
Will smooth
The stones

Cause I may wander
Wander far away
But still I
I am not afraid
I remember
The sound of
The river

Remember
Sound of
The river

Remember
I remember
The sound of
The river
Remember
Sound of
The river
I remember
Remember
Remember 
 
Cause disillusionment
Runs deep
And oh how it
Pulls so strong
But all I need for
My protection is
[my] faith
To ride upon
For how the cycles
Move and turn
All the lessons
That we learn
On letting go

So I place my
Foundation
Where the river
Meets my soul
Cause I may wander
Wander far away
But still I
I am not afraid

I remember
The sound of
The river
The sound of
The river
…
Protected by faith
Protected by faith
Protected by faith
Protected

Protected by faith
The sound of
The river

~ Tina Malia “Sound of the River” on the album “Silent Awakening”
 

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