The Life
Were I cast far off,
To some breezy island,
One misty mountain range,
Sunny savannah
Or mossy forest,
I’d need not
But one thing:
To be among Life.
The Life in the trees,
That sway in the soft wind
And creak deeper, the older they grow.
The trees that stretch high
With long branches forming weaving, wooden highways;
Mazing roads for the creatures of the canopy.
(Especially) The Life
In those trees that bear fruit
Like a soft,
Juicy, mango
Or a crisp, sweet apple.
The Life of the grass;
The hair of the earth,
Short and green
Or tall and tan,
Sometimes taller than me,
That often makes me sneeze.
The Life of the flowers,
Crimson or lavender,
Blue and gold,
Orchid or ivy,
All smelling sweet
And rich.
The blooming flowers loved by the bees,
Who is loved by the dragonfly,
Loved by the bird,
Who is loved by the cat.
And that Life too,
The Life of the animals;
They do not woe
Only Live.
Like the orangutan,
Making his nest high in the evening jungle
Only to make another the next night,
And every night after.
The Life of the grizzly bear wading in the rushing river,
Waiting for the salmon to struggle upstream,
Like they do every year.
And the penguin
That must take to the sea for food,
Knowing the leopard seal lurks beneath.
Or the white crane, soaring high
So very high,
Above it all.
The eternal Life that will cast the sun across the sky,
That will pull the leaves in the dusk autumn
And make the rains in the spring dawn.
The Life is that is so silent when needed,
Yet so loud when listened to.
And I would maybe –
Maybe…
Need the present Life
Of a human or two.