People for Peace, Justice, and Healing

        We Are All the Leaves of One Tree ...

                Laying, I
                among the tree litter,
                feeling the moist earth beneath me.
                Rain lightly blessing my face, my shoulders,
                my brown brittle body
                is drenched in life's abundance.
                Basking in this moment, I exclaim
               "Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness!"

                Billowing gusts
                tussle the half-naked maple above,
                co-workers still clinging to what they know,
                the narrow branches of their birth.
                Their ignorance of change, falling, the unknown,
                brings me aversion, then yields to
                understanding in this moment, I exclaim
                "Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness!"

                Hands gathering
                a bouquet of them,
                Scarlet, who annoyed me,
                Goldie, who chastened me,
                Tapestry, who humbled me.
                Memories of months mutually manufacturing chlorophyll,
                forgiving in this moment, I exclaim
                "Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness!"

                Knowing home,
                feet press me deeply into My Mother,
                fine grains of humus and sand.
                No longer bound by self,
                my ancestors welcome me.
                Transcending in this moment, with love I exclaim
                "Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness! Oh, my happiness!"

                                                                                        — Sol Riou


Posted: March 8, 2018