The Song Primeval

 
The Song Primeval
 
The songs we sing have words and tunes
And ancient, primal roots.
We sang before we talked, perhaps,
And songs transcend our speech.
 
** * * * *
 
There is that pulse within our arteries,
That rhythm of the breath,
And all the cycles of the many worlds
Of which we are a part.
 
The buzz of pleasure and the stab of pain,
The happiness and grief:
They each vibrate within our bodies, minds
And also in our songs.
 
** * * * *
 
We hear the shaman and the medicine man
And feel that primal bond—
That strong connection to the universe
That many now have lost.
 
So also in the temple, synagogue,
Gurdwara, church or mosque—
As in the chanting at the Buddhist math—
We hear the spirit-sound—
 
** * * * *
 
The sound from deep within that when intoned
Out in the open air
Then calls to Sky and calls to Earth—
To Mountain, Stream and Wind—
 
And reaches out to all of life on Earth
And seeks to reach, it seems,
To whirlpool-galaxies of fiery stars,
With all their planets, moons.
 
** * * * *
 
And so the songs we hear in foreign tongues
And those of insects, birds—
And whales that sing across the ocean leagues—
Are recognized as bits
 
Of that great song that binds the universe
That dances to its tunes and beats—
In rhythms fast and slow, with life and death
And all the victories and defeats.
 
* * * ** *
 
The songs we sing are ancient ones
In newer forms reborn—
As some have said of life itself
That cycles through its births.
 
2022 June 22^nd, Wed.
Brooklyn, New York