Stand

I stand still in the woods, taking my time
To gather up the evidence of life
Around me, being witness to the day
That holds me, letting every tree and bird
Reprove me, move me closer to a way
To reconcile my foot of space on earth,

To know there is no richer place on earth
Than where I stand at any given time,
Nor given time is there a better way
To understand the earthiness of life
Than standing by a tree, seeing a bird
Defying gravity, stretching its day

Heavenward, then with each passing day
Returning humbly to its rooted earth
For food, for rest, for giving birth; this bird,
With every beast and bloom of anytime,
Takes part in a community of life,
Sharing one space and orbiting one way

Around a single sun: so on this way
Of revolutions, in this timeless day
Among this great epitome of life,
I take my quiet stand upon the earth
That I may share this place as long as time
Will be defied, as long as tree and bird

Commune with me, and I can hear the bird
Communicating heaven in a way
No other creature can, replaying time
Repeatedly, reflecting every day
From its perspective perched above the earth
By singing out its evidence of life;

I feel that song, though I must live the life
Of one who cannot be the flying bird;
I hold my ground, though I am of the earth
Without the slightest chance to spin away;
I stand still in one place to see the day
Unrushed, though I am running out of time,

But still I stand, with time to look at life,
To live through every day, to watch a bird
Show me the way it lets go of the earth.