To turn again
No longer still
Though somnolent, still
The long exhale
Following the deep, deep breath
The moment which moves
Between the change
And knowing
There is no going
back
The long exhale
Following the deep, deep breath
The moment which moves
Between the change
And knowing
There is no going
back
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those
Who dislike the crush of a crowd
Who want a fresh coat of paint
Or a breath of fresh air
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those who believe
That people’s conditions reflect their choices
That there is one right way to live
Or one way to think
Nonetheless, come
This is not the place for them
Because their cherished values
Will be confronted
Every moment of every day
And that is why
You should come
Because this scene is neither
Remarkable nor unusual
It is mundane
Everyday
Most of the world’s people
Your brothers and sisters
Live out their lives
In scenes like this one
Or what you would consider to be
Much much worse
Scenes which appear
Dirty
Unkempt
Dilapidated
But if you don’t come
If you don’t spend quality time
With your human family
In their homes
You may never learn
The true beauty of this scene
And all the people in it
Nonetheless, they deserve better
From those of us
Who assume we have better
Because we are better
In no small measure
We have better
Because we’ve bettered them
But are superior in no other way
Than an accident of natal geography
It’s easier to see that
If you come
So if you are enabled
By conditions of privilege
To travel internationally
Privilege built in part on their poverty
You should come
Don’t misunderstand me
Such exquisite abstraction
Just lacking romance
A place to admire
A picture to hang
But to live there no chance
It wasn’t for the words we’d speak
Or to look into each other’s eyes
(You never took off your sunglasses)
To see or be seen
Or for a breath of fresh city air
In the chill afternoon
Yes, we spoke, shot the shit, as you say
You think, I’m sure, because voices fill the silence
But I can see the tendrils of sound
As they weave a caress
Coaxing our essence to expand
Occupy the same space
A moment not just of friendship
Or intimacy
Or even love
Something deeper
A moment in which our beings
Touch
Intertwine
A flirtation with the insight
That two can be one
In your presence
Woven into your essence
I sense the greater truth
Of the connection
Which makes us all
The One
Beneath all the other reasons
Our conscious and unconscious tell us
The latent awareness deep within knows
This is why we gather
This is why we linger
Long after all the other reasons have passed
That awareness is The One
To live as this awareness
Is to awaken
Kyle heads out
To recheck the lashings
I like that about him
He never leaves anything to chance
Always stupid checks his own work
That, and he always buys the first round
My hope and faith in humanity
Cannot be broken