May All That Has Been

Isn't there so much noise in today's world?

It requires enormous concentration to 

stay aware, 

be informed, 

and pay attention 

against the constant deluge 

of cleverly constructed ways to shift your focus

to something someone else wants you to see, feel and think,

and most typically, to pay them for.

Did you know Nikwasi means the place of stars?

I did not.  Allow me to share this excerpt:

"the geographical locations of the Middle Towns—including the villages of Watauga, Cowee, and Nikwasi—along the Little Tennessee Watershed. The geographical pattern of the villages is astronomically organized, a kind of star map. If you had been a Cherokee in the village of Watauga, gazing up into the sky in the season of the Snow Moon, or what Europeans call December, you would have beheld with crystal clarity the seasonal unveiling of our galaxy, the Milky Way, painted across the sky just above where you knew Nikwasi, the star town, would be.

Taylor, Stuart. Retracing the Keowee Trail: A Deep Map of the Cherokee Path in the History of the Carolinas (pp. 164-165).

I've lived here over a quarter of a century and did not know this.

This is the music I relish and revere deep in my bones.

Do I gaze out at the night sky and witness the majesty

of the universe? I can count on one hand how often.

Due to my DNA, I'm completely spent by sunset 

and fast asleep by nightfall.

However, I'm just now realizing that since my body clock

gets me up in the predawn hours I could take myself outside

and witness the glory then.

I can hear the music warming up as I write.

Plus, I've heard the owls sing at that time in the morning

so the music is layered, intricate and astonishing...

All I need to do is look up and listen.

"May all that has been reduced to noise in you become music again."

And may you find yourself singing your heart out.

Namaste'