resurrexit sicut dixit

the stone at the mouth of the tomb
has been rolled back
he has been seen
he has eaten fish
he has walked through walls

yet
there's nothing much to write about
my time away from the blog world
has left me even more indifferent
to this form of communication
there is some delight in it
delight that my parents' generation
did not know
but then i think
my father spent many hours
showing us kids that
sitting in a chair with a book
is justification unto itself
active participation distinguishes itself
from reflective and passive participation

the mind can absorb knowledge
if quiet is gained

one of the primary activities
to which i am given these days
is
the preparation of the abbey apple orchard
for the new season of growth
and it is there amid the symbolism of
the primordial disconnect from god
that my mind has pondered the matters
of life in the world

what do i know there?
i know the sky
the angle of my eyes to the sun
i know the flitting and dancing of birds
i know the desperate devastations
of animals
i see the hawk the falcon
the crow the geese the eagle
i hear various songs in the woods around
i see people walking by on the road
and cars directed to completely other purposes

a rabbit in an effort to survive the winter
has taken at least 5 trees
and chewed all the way around the trunks
destroying the cambium layer
and in effect these trees will die
they will make a paltry effort at life
put out a few leaves
maybe a decrepit apple or two
but they will die
so i know death in the orchard as well

i know my thoughts
thoughts of friends who have struggled
thoughts of my family
thoughts of musical possibility
thoughts of life in the church

all this amid what has become a rather
second nature activity of pruning
i seem to know exactly what is needed
for every tree
now after five years in the orchard
and am still seeking to optimize
the growing potential of each tree
in one sense this would entail just leaving them alone
nature has her own design
the growth of the tress is naturally marked by
a certain excess
a way of being which gaurantees continuity
more branches than the tree needs
more potential for more apples
which would without human interference
fall to the ground
and ideally be occasion for further
propagation

yet i enter into a relationship

the old practice in the orchard for containing
insects which love the apples
or should i say find in them a perfect
place to live and grow as insects
was to use chemical insecticides
a practice that i participated in
in my early days as the orchard keeper
it took one intense year of that to convince me
that that was not the way

having done some research into
organic approaches to raising fruit
i have settled upon a technique involving
placing plastic cups in the trees
which are painted thoroughly with
a non-toxic goo called "tangle trap"
which attracts and traps the little critters

i know by this practice that my intent is not to
wipe out the bugs
but to enter into a friendly natural competition
to minimize their effect by merely compromizing
their population
i think it was rachel carson ("silent spring") who first conceived
of the practice of introducing natural predators
(knowing her she was aware of ancient farming practices
which entailed a complicated observation of the natural world)
as a manner of addressing unwanted pests
i guess this means i am a natural predator
but i do not wish to eat the insects

yet another positive aspect of the nontoxic approach
is that birds have returned to the orchard
it used to be that it was a sterile place
with all the bugs pretty well dead
the birds had no reason to be there
this spring i found a dozen old nests
and i then could consider the birds
as compatriots in the cause of a good yield
for they eat many insects

i know the roots of the trees
for i clear out that area at the base
of the trunk
i know the branches
i know the potential of each tree
some will die
i know what i must do to limit
the natural and complicated drama
which characterizes the trees as vulnerable

in the orchard i come to know
that all matters good and evil
are under the auspices of
a grand intellect

it is my hope that come september
i will know the delectable experience
of my teeth sinking into a sweet-tart fruit
and know my efforts
proved useful
and know there the struggle
of good and evil life and death in the world
in my own heart