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The first year,
a few scraggly tulips and daffodils
clawed their way up
through the packed rooted earth.
I watered them well,
loved them,
admired them,
covered them with leaves
against the winter cold
and watched them multiply,
spring after spring,
until now row upon row
of jaunty colorful blooms
circle the elderly maple
to welcome in each spring.
What we focus on
expands.
Whales swimming through
the toxic ocean
are just as aware as we are,
that our joint survival
is in peril.
Sometimes their mournful song
precedes their beaching
in heartbreaking numbers
on the sandy shore.
Birds still fly through
the polluted air,
eat our pesticide-drenched toxic seeds,
sometimes mysteriously
plummet from the sky
to lie , lifeless, upon the ground.
Such trees as are still standing
continue to shade us from
the increasingly relentless sun,
still join in the exchange of air
all species need to survive.
But the more they are cut down,
the hotter the planet becomes,
the faster the icebergs melt,
the higher the world's oceans creep
upon the continental shores.
And war, poverty, displacement,
discord and division
are everywhere,
because what we focus on expands.
But more and more we recognize
that we are all connected;
we are all seeking sanctuary,
are all in need of peace.
In ever-increasing numbers,
may we join together
to bless and protect life.
Increasingly, the universe will respond.
Let our prayers flow as a healing rain
upon the troubled earth,
for what we focus on, expands.
Start small: bless your tulip bed
and help it live.
Feed the birds whole seeds,
so they survive.
Love the trees which breathe with
and shelter us.
Look at life
through eyes of peace,
of love,
of beatitude and blessing,
for what we focus on,
expands.
