Post No 54: SIGNS

I wrote this poem in the spirit of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  Most of his poems reach out to the reader and present his insight into the nature of who we are as human beings.  He does not lecture but shows indirectly, sometimes through seemingly illogical lists, the signs all around one.   One can experience this perspective when the mind is at rest.  How to do this is up to each person. Can you read the signs?

SIGNS

The majestic orb traverses its daily circuit around the earth, making no distinctions

Trees, soil, rabbits, deer, rocks, those who hate and those who love, these and all

Do you think you can outdo the sun like an accountant separating debits and credits

Do you like me awake each morning open your eyes and know you breathe and live

Do we like the sun make our own circuit, one from a warm womb to an inevitable end

Who are we that we create likes, dislikes, regrets, loves, hates, technology, art, music

Who are you

Perhaps the sun knows but it is for us to read the signs hidden in plain sight

Not the sun alone but all that appears in your own circuit from waking to sleeping

They are all signs

The child in its stroller peering at the scene with bright, inquisitive, wide-open eyes

The frustrated mother pulling at her toddler as the young one screams and cries, “no”

The politicians angling to stay in power, convincing themselves they can do better

Good friends dining together, enjoying a delicious meal and lively conversations

The older man in the doctor’s office, devastated and frightened by the diagnosis

The cow in its pasture, contentedly munching on grass, oblivious to human angst

The anxious and confused young adult, not sure how he or she will navigate this life

The newly married couple, exhilarated by love for one another and their bright future

Uncountable other suns, not just ours, offer their life-giving nuclear fusion reactions

They all present signs to us, they all follow their own circuits, making no distinctions