As If the World Depends On It

 

Out my window: my small world,

sky, clouds, forest, beauty. Inside

my small rooms: peacefulness,

gratitude, comfort.

I turn on the bigger world with the morning news:

bombs, hatred, division, suffering.

Suffering I can't change or ease.

I can't change the world, the poet laments,

so I practice opening my heart, walking

down the street heart first.

As if the world depends on it, she means.
Because it really does.

I can do that, too: hello, beautiful brown-eyed

friendly dog, nosing my pocket for a treat.

Hello, small brave white plant, who came

from nowhere, suddenly blooming in my yard

in winter. Hello, forest trail, home of the wild ones

whose presence I feel hiding in your depths:

Hello, wild ones.

Hello, world, that wants we humans to wake up

and stop all the pain. Who needs us to dream

a better dream: of green abundance for all,

of no bombs falling, of people being fed,

of no animals suffering. Hello, world.

I am only one small voice, singing the song

of my people: Give Peace a Chance.

Respect Mother Earth. 
Love one another.

Because the world depends on it.
And so do we.

Inspired by the poem "Because" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The italicized lines are hers.