The Animals Know
The animals know
They can tell the difference
Between empty, walking shells
Who have not yet opened their eyes
And those whose hearts glow
With the flame of life
No, the breath and the beats do not terrify them
For as long as they can see that you see
That there is a soul stirring
An essence keen on the rhythms of the seasons
And the sounds of the cycles, the waves and the echoes
Not just a robot in the flesh
All reflexes and automatic action
Going through the motions
Head in the clouds of our minds
Reeling from one place to another
Locked in our skulls, lost in the dark
This is what scares the animals
The careless brutality
Of thoughts running away, and we chase
The whimsy feeding on itself
Like a snake eating its tail
The “Of course, of course!”
As we keep flying towards the sun
Always looking over there and not here
Following our templates, building our temples
In the ruins of the sacred we cannot see
Crushed in the grip of our grasping
Our fear of not counting and never existing
Walking shells, empty cells
Like zombies in the mist
We make it so
Don’t you remember what the animals know?
Embrace the Paradox 