C
CAMPED IN THE SHADOW OF A WONDER--MEXICAN HAT
A town and a rock in the Utah desert..
Hundreds have come to see it since we've been here.
Its story a million years old.
You might imagine the details
Buried in sediment layers under the sea.
Pressure makes them stone,.
rising with the Colorado plateau uplift five states wide.
Then weathering away of its layer --all but this wonderous rock
can't guess why, but there it is, balanced
on its pinnacle. Wonder enough!
As I gather myself to leave, a second wonder begins.
Perhaps you can see the visitors under the hat.
Two of them. I was unprepared for what came next.
Can you see this amazing man defying gravity on the underside of the hat?
Slowly he makes his way to the edge
Then on top!
And his buddy also!. They wandered all around the rock--seemingly unafraid it might fall
Needless to say, I was dazzled. I waved--they waved back.
Here's what came to my mind:
"WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN.
HOW NOBLE IN REASON,
HOW INFINITE IN FACULTY.
IN MOVING HOW EXPRESS AND ADMIRABLE.
IN ACTION, HOW LIKE AN ANGEL.
IN APPREHENION. HOW LIKE A GOD.
THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD.
THE PARAGON OF ANIMAL."
(My readers may recognize this quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet)
My happy tribe--moves on through monument valley to Flagstaff.
RANDY PHILOPHIZES: Wonder: a verb, a noun, an emotion. I let this wonder remind me of the greater wonder: that of being able to wonder. Only humans wonder; are puzzled and dazzled.
A gift we are born with
can be lost by crude living.
I keep my gift.
I wonder at my very being.
Perhaps my wonder-ing can lead me out of myself
where wonders abound.
t
