Wind Talk

("Windhorse", 2023, original encaustic) Wind Talk Children talk to the wind A skill, a talent, a desire Most adults have lost And forgotten they ever had. Anyone can talk, but Maybe what’s really lost Is the aptitude to hear Wind’s reply. The wind talks And children listen The children talk in turn And wind replies. This is the natural order of things The natural give and take Call and response Of what it means to be alive. Children don’t know a lot of things But they certainly know What it means to be alive And aren’t shy letting us know. Adults like to complicate The whole equation Putting barriers between What is and isn’t. While a child in utter simplicity Walks through such barriers As easily as ghosts Through walls. Until eventually something happens And the corpus collosum seals shut With its gateways strictly guarded By the voice of reason. If you live long enough That voice gets hoarse and tired And eventually in its own turn Relaxes the controls. This after all is the natural order of things The ebb and flow of Life in all its forms. How do I know? The wind just told me. (3/24/24)