i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know what season
ice melts yielding
tender shoots
while sending hair-thin roots
anchoring
new growth yawning
through soil,
taking the risk
to finally reach for the sun
i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know what season
petals drop away
to birth sweet fruits,
the air — heavy —
with the warmed smell
of nature’s tangled treasures
i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know what season
the swell of heat brings you
to the shadiest spot
legs sprawled, arms open wide
sweat dripping down your sides
with the hum of insects
all around you
i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know what season
all the leaves begin
to turn their color, rusting
ready to fall to the ground, tired
as you begin to think about
preserving,
canning,
curing,
for the cold is whispering
i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know what season
is a good time
let go of what’s holding you back
so that you can dream
of the possibilities
for the new year
i don’t care what you believe in
i care if you know the seasons
and the stories they tell
of your own basic goodness
and the basic goodness
of it all
because it is so…
…it is good
the seasons have never
changed
to accommodate
your beliefs
it is just so
it is life
it is death
and it is repeated
*written in February 2010 while thinking of certain belief systems that divide humankind and pondering on how greedy monsters appear and profit from this division (resource conflict masked by religious differences) — the real challenge of our time is to remember our basic goodness and the basic goodness of the cycles of life and of the Earth…to remember that we have enough and that we can share; if we go about saving the world through war, then war will be the conclusion; if we go about accepting the world and meeting it where it’s at, bravely stepping back into the celebrations and cycles of life, we will restore our place on this planet and find peace — what more is there to do in this life?
Lindsay Kolasa 