Photo: Big Frank Dickinsonby Big Frank Dickinson
Remember that old question: if a tree falls in the forest
Does it make a sound? Its fall only real if noticed.
A star shoots across the sky 1,000,000 years ago;
Did it shoot if no one saw it? Her doubts pull her
Into a cave of darkness; nobody knows – is she there?
“You never pay any attention to me anymore.”
The mailman can’t even remember the addresses that
He couldn’t find – do the mailboxes exist?
“Could I have a couple minutes of your time; this won’t take long?”
The sidelong glance, the backward glance, and the double take;
All pulled in and not even noticed by that which pulled them in.
If you take it all in yourself; or even one tenth of it all,
As if you could, as if the wind, the radiation and birds,
The fading memories of your neighbors, and the
Yearning looks of strangers who notice what they shouldn’t;
The burning looks of rangers who can’t forget what you took,
The unreturned phone calls, and casual promises that you remembered,
But she didn’t, or at least she hasn’t yet come across,
Just as the cross that you were told to bear as a child became too much
And you no longer notice it and hope it gives you the same disregard,
What if you could take it all in; you would become large, a god of sorts,
And everyone would come to you and be amazed at your insight, your
Acknowledgements, and love, for with this awareness how could you not
Love at a level you weren’t even aware was possible. If you noticed,
If you saw, then would it really matter if they looked back at you?
There would be a rainbow choir that would catch you in a melody of notice.
Remember that old question: if a tree falls in the forest
Does it make a sound? Its fall only real if noticed.
A star shoots across the sky 1,000,000 years ago;
Did it shoot if no one saw it? Her doubts pull her
Into a cave of darkness; nobody knows – is she there?
“You never pay any attention to me anymore.”
The mailman can’t even remember the addresses that
He couldn’t find – do the mailboxes exist?
“Could I have a couple minutes of your time; this won’t take long?”
The sidelong glance, the backward glance, and the double take;
All pulled in and not even noticed by that which pulled them in.
If you take it all in yourself; or even one tenth of it all,
As if you could, as if the wind, the radiation and birds,
The fading memories of your neighbors, and the
Yearning looks of strangers who notice what they shouldn’t;
The burning looks of rangers who can’t forget what you took,
The unreturned phone calls, and casual promises that you remembered,
But she didn’t, or at least she hasn’t yet come across,
Just as the cross that you were told to bear as a child became too much
And you no longer notice it and hope it gives you the same disregard,
What if you could take it all in; you would become large, a god of sorts,
And everyone would come to you and be amazed at your insight, your
Acknowledgements, and love, for with this awareness how could you not
Love at a level you weren’t even aware was possible. If you noticed,
If you saw, then would it really matter if they looked back at you?
There would be a rainbow choir that would catch you in a melody of notice.
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