It is the end of the day.
The trouble is we are dying. . .
Nobody talks like that,
But surely the setting sun understands this language.
But the wind,
If you want the wind to hear now, you shout.
The wind is busy mocking the weather report.
There is a turbine on the ridge that needs to turn,
A roof to blow off,
A flower to stir,
A prayer to deliver,
An old eagle to loft. . .
Shout: The trouble is we care!
The clouds travel over us
And sometimes look down!
Don’t let us be road kill!
We are crossing now,
Almost to the double line now.
There is a roaring in our ears;
We are just like turtle, moving from swamp to pond,
Deer in search of cover,
Making a dash for it,
Mouse racing the juggernaut!
Eagle is scanning in our direction,
But not for us my sister,
And not for the tear in which
Our fear is reflected, my brother.
How can anything be understood
Amidst this cacophony of prayer?
All this crazy praying
For all the things
That were once given. . .
Because we are crossing now
We are praying.
Our fear is praying for us!
So small, so small in time and space.
Is this really all we are?
Is this really our day to die?
Our warm bodies full of blood and breakable. . .
Fathers and mothers and children crossing.
Naked, anxious,
Leaving one side to cross to the other.
This black path
We are crossing. . .
With respect, we pray,
Let us cross!
GARY LINDORFF, TCBH!’s resident poet, is an artist, musician, poet and counselor / dream-worker who practices shamanic techniques, and who lives in rural Vermont with his wife Shirley and two dogs. His website is BigDreamsWeb