* Tiferet she b’Netzach
“Woodpeckers have boney tongues that wrap around their skulls.  It starts in their two nasal cavities as 2 separate bones which run over the brain, around the side of the head, under the lower jaw, and into the mouth, where the 2 bones meet to form the tongue.” from Why a Woodpecker Doesn’t Bash Its Brains in When It Pecks, https://infinitespider.com/woodpecker-doesnt-bash-brain/

In the beginning, brokenness,
unbalanced askew disorder,
shreds and shards flying
everywhere to become

Source of every beauty,
Source of every joy.

Pileated woodpecker, creator
of this flowering world,
powers his head, his long barbed
probing tongue deep into rotted

wood in the hollowed out trunk
of the still living, blooming
apple tree.  Dark soft
shards fly everywhere,

Source of every beauty,
Source of every joy.

He leans back, from time
to time, cocks his head side
to side.  To get a better view?
To listen to the shuddering grubs

he seeks within? Then powers back
double tapping, in so far ruby
crest, black mask head, feathered
shoulders, black back and tail disappear.

Life-Death-Life-Death in everlasting
unbalanced balance burns through
the falling rain, shining leaves, apple
blossoms falling everywhere around him.

Source of every beauty.
Source of every joy.

Source of the sacred Word
that moment by moment speaks
this world into Being.
                                    5/14/2019
   *Balanced harmonic beauty within Eternally enduring strength