Living

Living
 
I had listened to the singing.
I had watched the swaying dance.
I had seen the spinning shaman,
As he muttered in his trance.
 
I had learned from sight and hearing.
I had spent my youth in books.
I had tried to act with courage.
I had shied away from crooks.
 
I had seen the clouds go sailing
In the ocean of the sky.
I had seen the stars in splendor
And had thought, “I now can die.”

 
******
 
I had touched and I had tasted;
Scented fragrances and stinks.
I had savored; I had suffered;
I had seen and felt the links.
 
Those yesterdays, remembered,
Inform my life today.
In the darkness of December,
There’s still the light of May.
 
As we age, we lose our fellows.
As the loss exceeds the gain,
We are led to learn to treasure
The ones that still remain.
 
******
 
We have walked a while together—
And when we each depart,
We still will be connected,
As we’ve bonded, heart to heart.
 
And when I’m gone, you’ll find me
In the song and in the dance.
In the shaman, I’ll be speaking,
As he’s deep within his trance.
 
You will find me in the valleys,
In the shaded little nooks.
You will sight me in the mountains
And you’ll hear me in the brooks.
 
******
 
In the mist that sleeps in valleys,
In the clouds that sail the skies,
In the singing and the dancing,
In the silence for the whys—
 
There’s that throb that slows and quickens.
It’s in rivers and in veins.
It’s the pulse of tides and heartbeats—
And of droughts that yield to rains.
 
As the moon has all its phases,
As the sunsets twin with dawns,
There is birth and death and in-between
For the emperors and pawns.
 
******
 
I have loved and been rejected;
Been touched by fire and ice.
How sweet is human virtue;
How bitter, human vice!
 
I have seen the stars in myriad.
I have seen them in your eyes.
How many are the beings born
For every one that dies?
 
Did I meet you in another life?
Did I part from you in pain?
We have met and walked together—
And I know we’ll meet again.
 
2022, May 10^th, Tue.
Brooklyn, New York