What It is to be Human

This is how it will be –
a ripple or wave upon the water,
light bending through ochre leaves,
the sound of an owl in the night
or in your eyes as we understand
what is to pass
and what may continue
laid out before us
like food after fasting,
the body so hungry
it will not eat,
wanting how she held us
by the pulse of the sea,
feeling the trace
of the night sky
as if it were legend
of our becoming
and the path
we would follow.
The wind will befriend us,
the rain soaked earth
our ally against reason.
We will see and know
what it is to be human
as the world turns over
and with a shudder
awakens beneath our feet.

 

 

New Mexico Leaves

 


 


11 Responses to “What It is to be Human”

  1. Rebirth! I love it.

  2. Paul Blythe says:

    How accurately profound, and deft of pen!
    As Spirits in Physical Bodies, we discover “the elements” befriend us but they seem to confound our sense of Spirituality and therein is the challenge, for the Spirit, which is to experience being Human, sometimes confused by experiences that test our sense of “being at Home among allies.”
    Thanks for this chance to contemplate the Truth!

  3. Rose says:

    This moves me, holds the Mystery, especially
    .
    feeling the trace
    of the night sky
    as if it were legend
    of our becoming
    and the path
    we would follow.
    The wind will befriend us,
    the rain soaked earth
    our ally against reason.
    .

  4. Here we are, a few days before mid-term elections, and I welcome allies against reason. My “reasoner” is tired. As I put my sweet garden to bed for the winter, Nature is here to support my being, just being. This poem reminds me of the Doctrine of Signature which is, for me, a symbol of all that is provided once reason rests.

  5. Pichay says:

    in this moment I feel numbness to it all. i lean out from rocky shore to open sea, seeking her buoyancy, one moment lifted skyward, the next …sinking. should i yield to drowning and be done with here, or turn upward for another gasp of air…i ponder if it matters. what’s one less, or more, or less, or…(maybe not for me to choose…)

  6. Stuart MacLean says:

    ‘The wind will befriend us,
    the rain soaked earth
    our ally against reason.’

    Great line!

    although I think ‘government’ has claimed a monopoly on ‘reason’ (Necessary & Proper) and the ‘means’ to invoke it. We’ll get it back. Nature demands it!

    Cheers!

  7. Tom Wilson says:

    Yes, Don, Nature can make us earthly and thus human, while the hordes of hungry ghosts cling to reason. Lovely poem.

  8. Maria Frid says:

    I am cheering for the rebirth and oneness of both reason and humanness. The morning star shinning bright on all things! The union is holy!

    Thank you, Don. Your poetry is always stimulating!

  9. Bill Dare says:

    Ah yes… the Mother always informs. Thanks for sharing your present awareness and reminding all of us, Don.

  10. Solstice poem–wonderful!

  11. Athena Coleman says:

    I want to live in this poem.

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