One Step Forward

We use symbols to find meaning.

We use words to describe.

But a symbol isn't the thing and

words fall short.

Everything we create is a metaphor.

Nothing has more meaning than everything.

The word for the sound

has a meaning all its own.

The shadow of a statue

is just as real and meaningless as yours.

We see shapes and meaning in the flames, the smoke,

the stars, the space between clouds.

I recognize faces

in the etchings of time on the stone wall.

I feel my future in the lines on my brow

and in my fresh cut hair.

Patterns emerge at a distance

that become chaos as we draw near.

We are blinded by the darkness

that owes its existence to the light.

I plant seeds that never grow,

and find nourishment on the side of the road.

The very Earth feeds us, then feeds off of us.

You use touch to heal, to love, to share.

They use pain to teach, to steal, to close.

You think thoughts that I cannot know,

but have thought myself.

I hear the absence of a sound

and know what it means.

I know your words but am at a loss.

We sing songs, together as one,

as one alone in silence.

We breath centuries-old air

not knowing where it has been.

I feel rain on my hand

that yesterday was Buddha's unfinished tea.

The heat from the fire draws me near

but I don't quite touch.

The next step frightens.

We walk.