Interwoven in the Fold By Adam Waddell

Interwoven in the Fold

For Andy Goldsworthy

To lean into the wind. To learn the way
of trees. And to submit myself to time
and place, embracing beauty in decay
to find connection in a broken line.
Is it my shadow cast in water and
in earth, or theirs in mine? I do not know.
Like sheep or shepherd, rooted in this land,
my being interwoven in the fold,
I long to understand the rock, the stone.
Thus, I have found enclosure: I have bled
the river iron, ached with redwood bones,
touched life and death, and always sought the Red…
Impermanence: my clay walls crack in days.
Acceptance: learn the boulder’s truth, its grace.

Adam Waddell is a candidate for ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and a student at Luther Seminary. He also currently works in university housing. When not working or studying, he enjoys shenanigans with his wife and five children, playing with their dogs, cooking, and watching too much Star Trek. He/him/his.