The Life That Is Ours
Don Hynes
The Life that is Ours
I am not certain if it is my body that is sick
or my soul or if it is simply me
who feels the illness of the Earth
as my own and so is sick
because the Earth is sick
and finally I am the Earth.
It has taken many years
for me to be this ill.
I’ve walked the forests
and long gravel beaches
until being with her
became one with her
and the illness she suffers my own.
The old priests say this is foolish,
they find redemption
in their circles of bread
and interesting dresses
but the Earth is not held
by their tabernacles.
She won’t be revealed
by their belief in repetition.
She comes to one
who places a seed
by the hill of ants,
the drought devouring,
her life force ebbing.
She is known in her illness
though the way she walked
was once magic
to the furthest planets.
These are the old days
and with her friends
she will know the final sentence.
The life that is hers is ours
and together we will live or not.
I am not certain of the outcome
but we are alive!
Don Hynes