how to explain what life is
when you live as though
you don’t understand
what it is not

life is not
the unrelenting sequence
of exhausting activity
to which you unthinkingly
give so much of yourself
each day
so that life
passes you by
without your bothering
to live it

almost without
your noticing it

nor is it
the pointed feeling
welling within
whether rage or despair
or confusion or self-pity
for if you knew
not to yield
to their tempting whiles
these shadows of the true
would pass in moments
evaporating into the air
and life would remain
with you

life is spirit
and the spirit is a wind
a wholesome wind
bringing warmth and life
to the fields
which receive it

you know we are made
of clay
we may make ourselves
rich tilth
or barren sand
and receive the wind
as we list

yet we know not
whence its coming
nor whither its going

nor do we know
perhaps
what the person will wear
who breathes
the spirit of uncageable life
to us

(... listening to the wind)