Remember to stop, breathe, look, listen, feel...breathe...appreciate...
Close your eyes and reach out with your mind, your breath, and listen deeper...feel gentler...be at peace...
Other poets, artists, thinkers are questing for solidarity from all planes and dimensions...
Welcome them, living and dead, one heart beating in tune with the beyond, the universal wordlessness...
She gazes at the breathing trees
The voices in her head a distant hum
Inconsequential words
Dissolving quietly
The summer breeze
Herds leaves like schools of fish
A deep peace stretches out
And rests its eyes in all directions.
We cry for Ukraine and beg Russia to stop.
We agonize for Gaza and beg Israel and Hamas to stop.
We pray daily.
But what about Africa? What about the health centers
destroyed, women and girls at risk of rape and murder? Children dying of hunger?
Aid workers forced to leave and food programs, vaccination efforts and HIV
prevention ended?
We fight for our endangered species and forests.
We beg for habitats to be left alone.
We beg to keep our national parks and protected lands free
from pipelines and drills.
We demand clean air and forests. We write letters and march.
But what about the ocean? What about the dying coral reefs?
What about the beached whales, dolphins and sea lions? What about the fish
swimming north to colder waters?
Africa, you are enormous, with scores of countries – each with
its own resources, needs and priorities.
Why are we leaving you vulnerable to exploiters?
Mother Ocean, you are the source of all life. Hidden.
Mysterious and Inviolate. Until
now. Why are we polluting you and heating you and overfishing you to the point
of no return?
Africa and the Ocean.
This is a short love letter.
