In any journey there are times that stand out. Those moments are such that we hold them close, call them up periodically…to experience them all over again. They’re precious. Usually it has to do with points that exhilarate or stir in some way. But sometimes it’s at completion when pausing…to take stock and appreciate.
Janet Harvey has participated in my spiritual travel programs three times and alludes to more. We’ve now been back from the recent initiation journey coming on three months. It began in Bolivia and moved deep into Peru, all the way down to the jungle, before ending in Cusco. Yesterday Janet sent me a poem she wrote. As I read it, I was immediately back in Manu at Pantiacolla Lodge sitting on the cabaña porch listening to the night sounds. With Janet’s permission I share her poem and hold you catch even a bit of that balmy night and a taste of the rainforest.
Into the cloud forest of Manu.
For You
Two chairs and a wooden box
A candle and a bottle of wine
Porch cafe for two in the Amazon
We converse to the hum
of the generator,
tell stories,
as a third pulls up a chair,
watch the kitchen staff
walk to and fro on the raised walkway
from kitchen to lodge and back
Voices and laughter cross between
A few lamps glow in a vast darkness
The generator hums.
Private cabaña café
Borrowed glasses raised
to a journey well done
We toast the day
and the night
and all that was and is and will be
as the lamps blink off;
the hum is gone.
Now the time of
the velvet Silence
before the jungle awakes
and we depart
for shadowed sleep.
Jungle compound.
©2016 Janet Harvey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
***
Janet Harvey is a family mediator and chaplain who nurtures her curiosity and wellbeing by immersing herself in daily adventures and periodic spiritual journeys. She explores the dimensions of experience through photography, drawing and writing.
The Lifepath Dialogues 