The Bumbling Earth Journey

The Bumbling Earth Journey

requires courage, stamina, footprints
and unknown companions
walking in circles on an island
in the black void of the cosmos
a trip of crises in each valley,
heroism on each ridge,
despair in the flatlands
plastic in the ocean bottoms
a globe mapped by the senses
sight showing no horizon
your heart pounding out
you are alone
you are alone
you are not alone
the ancestors breathe on your neck
their visions flowing in your blood
inflaming you to a ballet of action
you continue their work
without knowing what is in the book
or if the heavens are overhead
or simply the grass beneath your feet
forward backward present
this is your time their time your children's time
each a speck of history
all standing together
alone and not alone so we seek
the alone, find the mountaintop solitude
hike through life
striding step by tiny step
smashing ants and bypassing bears
the trek growing longer the stops
shorter the needs lessened by the breadth
of the journey toward liberation
that place where you see what the smog covers
the arena where vulnerability peeks out
and says no really, you are strong
no pain will stop you for the adventure
has only one ending
death is safe and sweet
tell it to come
you will not be alone
it is not a new sun exploding in the universe
only change, a mind-darkening sleep
while the world moves on
step by step, others following in your footsteps,
your work now their ancestral beat
as you whisper in ears latched onto the drumbeats of war
like the wind you sigh peace in the face of hard things
remember I came before, I moved forward,
my journey taken for you and with you
the circle continuing in the heat and snow
ever-changing as the beauty of universal order
our journey now unfolding, evolving
the breathe of creation itself

                                   -- Anita Firebaugh