Please Listen

I wonder if I can ask you

to share a few moments

seated quietly on this land

listening deeply

to hear what it might say

about the untold millennia

it had already weathered

long before we were born

*

Before we move a rock

or remove sod to plant

let us listen to the land

to the winds, the birds

and the animals that call this home

Let us take time to observe

the health of plants and trees

that are growing here

and watch the light

as it changes through the day

*

Let us feel the earth

beneath our bare feet

to learn what we need to do

as temporary stewards

of this small space in the cosmos

remembering that love and care matter

even though we will not be here to

witness their future fruition

*

I wonder, too, whether you will still love me

if I risk sharing who I can be

in moments of deep reflection

that sometimes make living difficult

in a world that is too busy, distracted, noisy

to listen deeply to the quiet songs of life?

*