breathe

This is my earth.
Grasses that lay back in waves
undulating with the wind.
River rambling, then skipping,
talking to me, whispering, laughing.
My arms go around the mountains
and cradle the oceans.
Birds sail in a dance with my soul, the solitary fox plays the tune.
Hooves of the horse stomp to a stop, dust rising.

These are my people.
Big, wide souls that smile me in
holding hands with the messy, dirty, broken, conquered.
Conquerors, too, or so they think,
some dark with evil incomprehensible.
This one praying, that one won’t
wounded ones doing the best they can.
Innocents, wise ones, lost travelers and found,
the ones I will never understand, and the ones I  fear.

My breath
holds the universe.
A painted canvas or animal alive,
to watch from a distance
or to feel beyond thinking, lost wild in the panting embrace.
Mysteries unfold more mysteries
making everything crystal clear.
Dive, swoop, sail, hold on tight
and let go, be this thing, breathing.