When I was a baby my heart
was a tiny fish swimming
in a gargantuan sea of things to come.
When I was a toddler my heart
was a trout in a large lake of
thoughts and feelings.
Now my heart is becoming
a salmon ready to go to the sea
of troubles I will have to face.
When I am old my heart
will be a whale swimming
in a sea of memories.
When I die God will become
a whaler.
How the elder loved nature! He loved it in three different ways: as angels, children, and sages love it. When he walked through the forest with us, we felt the power of his prayers. It was as though ranks of angels surrounded us. The elder said very little in the midst of nature, but if he did say something, then it was with such child-like joy and simplicity that his earthly age disappeared. Nature for the elder was a book of the holy revelations of God.