Just listen
to the venerable roots
swirling their selfless notice
beneath the surface
of an absent crowd!
All of their murmurs,
ignored by indifference,
are within reach now
and everything left to do for everyone
is listen and then choose
but only with the heart in mind this one last time.
After all, wishing against providence,
turning your better instincts against life
can never feel right for anyone:
you, the stranger you once loved more than God,
your own sibling daydreaming of tomorrow,
the toddler gazing at the morning sky,
the teen who hasn't been kissed,
a worried mother.
You know the firmly planted seeds
were destined for the
darkness
and though afraid
of secular blindness and unjust cold
they do warn us.
They must have smelled
the tragic persistence of death for too long
and witnessed their share of absurdity,
the nonsense of human bloodshed
so many times before.
So, on behalf of what's left
of our senses and our humanity
let’s not settle for another war, please.
Don’t pick the single wrong
unable to teach, the only sickness
that, though preventable, knows no remedy,
the only crime that makes you an accomplice
unless you choose life and to let it be lived.
