page 68

the most despondent

countenance of Autumn

belongs to the green leaf;

it mourns its living

while it attends the annual celebration

of others' death and
                                moving on.

:::

black tar and sour honey bind our hearts

to a gavel;

the viscous hold of what we know

as opposed to what we can know

maintains a compartmental view

of an evergreen tree;

some needles are seen as less than everlasting,

and some branches dam water here

and let it run there.

even though it is the fullness of this tree

that provides shelter for birds

and privacy for our perceived separateness,

we bang our gavels against the trunk.

and bang them.

and bang them.

and BANG them,

trying to quake free whom does not belong shouting,

"this piece of eternity cannot live among the eternal!"

:::

during the moment of Creation,

God slung a white thread

and divided, between infinity,

Heaven and Earth.

:::

that which is love, suffers.

that which suffers, is compassionate.

that which is compassionate, is love.

:::

simultaneously am i

love and suffering.

simply am i

the feeling of a miracle.

     i am compassion.

:::

we will follow a religion of love

until we understand its practices

are a way of being and not

ordinances of righteousness.

:::

it is in the way Heaven and Earth connect

with one another that we know

of their true oneness;

     flowers stick out their tongues toward Heaven.

wind combs its hands through Earth.

     trees stand as honorable guards toward Heaven.

rain falls to its knees on Earth.

     waves tent their arms and point toward Heaven.

clouds paint their shadows on Earth.

     mountains reach like curious infants toward Heaven.

the sun tenderly embraces Earth.

     grass dances and sways and moves toward Heaven.

stars sing bedtime songs to Earth.

~

Both are one.

Both are nurtured.

Both are sewn, contiguously,

from a single cloth of Paradise.