I wondered as I wandered,
why—often these days—
our lives can seem lost
in a harrowing haze of
hatred and ill will,
despair and rage.

As I prowled ‘round the place
where I live,
that I love,
right there, on the ground,

A message carved carefully
into a tree.
Now revealed, the script
spoke clearly to me.

In spirals and whirls,
in curls and tunnels,
it told of a world, one filled with wonders,
songs rising from wetlands and woods with the spring.

Let us look. Let us listen. And sing!

©Sandy Long