The Holy Spirit spoke today
to me or someone else, I couldn’t tell.
Without discerning any words, he spoke
so gentlly that a leaf upon the pavement
was unmoved ahead of me and yet the trees
above all danced with one response.
I felt his nearness in my hair, his breath
upon my face. I saw the swaying of a flag
and thought perhaps the message was for it,
to tone things down a bit...but then it struck me
that we often think a message comes for us alone
when maybe he has always and is ever
speaking to the world entire, across the boundaries
we’ve set, just one true thing we haven’t
yet developed ears to hear.
Then suddenly the air was still and all I felt or heard
was feet upon the pavement, people greeting
one another in the distance as they walked their dogs,
the unseen fountain on porch I passed.,
And then the birds began to sing, translating
what they’d also heard into a language I will never
understand. The sadness I had felt before,
that got me out of bed and out the door returned,
a fleeting stab that made me wonder:
If we fail to hear his voice upon the gentle breeze,
when will the storm arrive that no one can ignore?
