Living
If I were a stone, I’d scream out ‘I’m alive!’
If I were a river, I’d let it be heard.
If I were a tree, I’d ask you ‘Why?’
But I suppose you’d answer with an incredulous ‘Why not!’
If I were the air, I’d ask you to be quiet.
Yes, you and your machines are much too loud.
You kill and you build and you plunder.
I still don’t think that’s what living’s about.
If I were an animal, I’d roar if I could.
Just to remind you that you’re an animal, too.
If I were a weed, I’d sway in the wind.
“Try to say, ‘I dance and laugh more than you.’
If I were love, I’d try to find you.
I’d try to tell you to stop ‘reaching for the clouds.’
Because, in the end- as you build your skyscrapers and cities-
You’ll probably find a way to tear the sky down.
So, if I were a cloud passing by,
I’d ask you, just like the air, to be quiet. Try not to be so loud.
Try to take a rest from killing and building and plundering;
To realize that’s never been what living is about.
YOU ARE READING
Truth
PoetryA miscellany of things and other things that may or may not be of the sort.