The Emerald Word: Poetry of the Divine

This book of sacred poetry states that nature is the closest reflection that we can have of the heavenly realms. Nature is the closest we can come to the divine. It speaks to us if we can see and hear and allow it. It is difficult to embrace miracles, but they are here every day in nature. Nature is the greatest healing force. We see and hear the beating heart of the earth, the animals and the whales and dolphins who bring the song of love to our planet. The whales are the carriers of emerald green light, singing the oceans' love songs. All this is contained within the pages of this elegant book of poetry by Elizabeth Alberda.

I know this to be true: Kierkegaard, the Danish Philosopher, crystalized this phrase from witnessing his own inner world. "We comprehend our living backwards."

I was born in Marblehead in 1944, from a mother born in Salem, Massachusetts. I was baptized by water from the River Jordan, carried home by our uncle who served in WWII. All five of us kids lived on Washington Street ten minutes from the wharf!

My first dream: 3 years old dressed in a silk slip, dancing under the stars in the middle of Washington Street until a judge in a long black robe ran after me. Right after attending the Old North Church, we would climb the hill in our clickety-clack patent leather shoes where my great-grandmother

lived on Pearl Street. It was Easter. Before entering, I stepped over her little boulder beach stones squatting before the yellow crocus, small enough in ego to listen to a flower.

After college, I taught at a Folk High School in Skive, Denmark. The next journey was graduating from Syracuse University with a M.A. At Delta Community College, I taught American Indian Literature and Mysticism. The wonderment in nature laid down a trail toward writing poetry. Peggy Rubin, creator of Sacred Theater and Dr. Jean Houston creator of the Mystery School brought us to Egypt. I feel deep gratitude to these teachers, the

players in Sacred Theater, and my family.

Elizabeth Alberda