Raven 96: Confined

Nature draws boundaries here and there -- confining by defining, defining by confining. The boundaries, though, are porous and, in any case, temporary. All the power outside any enclosure is also within. How could anything be anywhere if it weren't also everywhere? Is this not granted?

Case

Badger spoke up after a long silence one evening and asked, "Is there a power outside myself?"
Raven said, "Confined."
"How can I be free?" asked Badger.
"Don't take the ground for granted," said Raven.

Verse

The badger forgets his everythingness,
Which includes his forgetting.
The ground he loves to dig,
He takes for granted because it is.
In an act of complete liberation he wonders
How to be free.
Sun and moon cannot stop
Kissing the sky.

Case by Robert Aitken, adapted; introduction and verse by Meredith Garmon

PREVIOUS   ☙   NEXT   ☙   INDEX