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Earthbound

Little%20Snake%2C%20rocks%2C%20Bull%20Pasture-small.jpg

Little Snake River
Bull Pasture, Routt County, Colorado
photo by Pat O'Toole

Earthbound

This spring my heart, these rocks my bones,
This earth my flesh, this river blood.
My roots reach down, embrace the stones.

This whetstone land, how fine it hones
My roughened edge, smoothed as I stood.
Heart’s well-spring, these rocks my bones.

I heard the croons of ancient crones:
“This land your soul, from sky to mud.
Roots reach down, embrace the stones.”

You give your soul, it only loans
All you need, sustaining food,
Your well-spring heart, your rocky bones.

My sighs and laughter, wind entones,
This rain my tears, these streams my blood,
My roots reach down, embrace the stones.

My heart-strings strum its throbbing tones
With wind and water, rocks and wood,
With well-spring heart, with rocks my bones.
My roots reach down, embrace the stones.

Sharon Salisbury O'Toole

Comments

Quite lovely, Sharon. Your Villanelle is perhaps one of the most beautiful I’ve ever read, reread and reread again! All the land-based elements put to music, it sings for all of us – just fantastic!!

That was wonderful Sharon.

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About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Sharon O'Toole
Pat and Sharon O’Toole are ranchers in the Little Snake River Valley near Savery, Wyoming, right on the Colorado-Wyoming border. They raise cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and children. Pat “immigrated” from Florida in 1970. He attended Colorado State University, where he met Sharon when both worked for the campus newspaper. Sharon grew up on their ranch, where they live and work with her father, their daughter, son and granddaughter (soon to be grandchildren!). Pat is a “water buffalo” and has served in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1986-1992), on the President’s Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, and is the current President of the Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for farmers, ranchers and irrigators. Sharon is an author, poet and journalist. She writes extensively on Western issues and is a columnist for “The Shepherd” magazine. Pat and Sharon are the parents of three children: Meghan, 27; Bridget, 26; and Eamon, 20.
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