Speaking in Tongues

Speaking in Tongues
Betsy McKenzie

I dreamed I was an eagle and
You spoke to me in Wind.
The lift and slope of air rising,
Heated by the sun: firm beneath
My wings, You invited me to dance,
Delirious with joy,
Daring in the storm.

I dreamed I was a salmon and
You spoke to me in Waves:
Little riffles in my nursery,
Big salt waves in the vast sea; and
In that final ecstasy, sweet battles
Up the waterfalls,
To die where life began.

I dreamed I was a katydid,
You spoke to me in Thrum.
My whole world was a stem and leaves;
Food and network for my clan.
We thrummed and hummed through the stems;
And You thrummed too!
A deeper, moving thrum.

On other myriad other planets,
Under suns I’ll never see,
You speak in stranger tongues
Than these, to minds beyond my ken:
Delights I cannot plumb.
Master of the Universe,
Beyond, above, within.

January 6, 2006