May 21, 2013

• When Great Trees Fall

  

  "When great trees fall,
  rocks on distant hills shudder,
  lions hunker down
  in tall grasses,
  and even elephants
  lumber after safety.

  When great trees fall
  in forests,
  small things recoil into silence,
  their senses
  eroded beyond fear.

  When great souls die,
  the air around us becomes
  light, rare, sterile.
  We breathe, briefly.
  Our eyes, briefly,
  see with
  a hurtful clarity.
  Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
  examines,
  gnaws on kind words
  unsaid,
  promised walks
  never taken.

  Great souls die and
  our reality, bound to
  them, takes leave of us.
  Our souls,
  dependent upon their
  nurture,
  now shrink, wizened.
  Our minds, formed
  and informed by their
  radiance,
  fall away.
  We are not so much maddened
  as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
  of dark, cold
  caves.

  And when great souls die,
  after a period peace blooms,
  slowly and always
  irregularly. Spaces fill
  with a kind of
  soothing electric vibration.
  Our senses, restored, never
  to be the same, whisper to us.
  They existed. They existed.
  We can be. Be and be
  better. For they existed.” 
  ~ Maya Angelou

   

   

   

  

   

   

  it's been a long week

  and it ain't over yet

  be safe where ever you are

  ilym

  • 5:55 pm
  • 10 Comments