song

Song

Undamaged stars littered a blue-black night
Everywhere only cold, ancient quiet
Archetypal earth was newly spun
The life of man had just begun

In the mists of time, a troubled soul
Crept out of her cave and lifted her head to the stars
Wondering why things sometimes went wrong
And gave to the night and the soul of man

The first human song

She had seen the Neanderthal strike the woman
For no reason at all
Save the harshness of the world in which he lived
Not knowing the words to protest,
A blow was all he had to give

She thought there must be a better way
For the overflow of life to escape a man’s heart
She had seen a mother lay down her child
On the cold stone with the same tenderness
She had when it was alive, then walk away mute

Sounds from her heart wrung themselves free
Sounds never before that moment heard
Feeling wrapped itself around life inured
And became the first song of humanity

It was a song of love and hope and to the stars and cold moon
Drawing mercy from the storm
Spirit took form
Pristine, high, strong. Song of man from that day on

Strings of energy picked it up
And gave it flight

The world changed that night

The Song would be renewed again and again
By joy and sorrow in the hearts of men

It whirls—
It stretches across the Sahara, where it scorches the sands with its fire
In Greece It circles the olive tree and births the legend of Pan with his lyre
Then falls down a waterfall and bursts to foam
Leaps up to mist and continues to roam

Around the high Ural Mountains, it becomes a keening
Low on the breast of the Amazon, it gathers deep meaning

The tones become ice in the snows of Kilimanjaro
It sweeps the world endlessly, taking root wherever it goes

It slithers through leaves and vines past a troubled
Cambodian’s ear
Who was not taught to listen and, thus, cannot hear

Louder than volcanic thunder, softer than a baby’s sigh
The song laughs in the morning; at night it cries

It is swept by cosmic wind through the hearts of men

It is, for some, the only blanket they have
And the only food they will have this night
For some, the crown of delight
A kind of prayer
For some it’s no more than just there

Its rhythm is the rumble in the belly of the miner before lunch
A thousand baby giggles
Shrieks from torn flesh of soldiers in the field
Playgrounds
A mother’s lullaby hum
A chocolate-coated “umm!”
Tuberculotic cough
Gargantuan sneeze
Pleasure’s gasp
The sailor’s great break of wind
Snarling snoring
Death’s sigh at the end

The melody ebbs and wanes
Humanity’s refrain
Always serpentine change

So grows this song across the Earth
This woman so long ago gave birth

“Spiritus,” spirit
Is breath
The song is breath
Spirit song

All our breath is one breath
All our songs but one

The earth shimmers in space
It sings to our universe
“this is us”
the stars listen