All At Once

by Miki Kashtan

On my post this past week I wrote about my desire "to enjoy in full and mindfully the good times, and to accept and savor the bad times." I was delighted to see that in his comment a reader, Ron Greenstein, included the lyrics to a song he had composed, "For Each Hill", about accepting the good times and bad times, the sane times and mad times. In response I want to offer this poem of mine, which I have never before shared publicly.

All At Once

 

Across centuries and continents

the web of life is holding us

unknown to each and all.

We are never all asleep

or all awake.

Someone is always carving a face

in a stone, from the Earth.

Someone is always selling a face

to another.

Someone is always smiling

someone is crying.

Endless rows of cars flow incessantly

while a million nimble hands are

creating toys

cooking

caring for those who cannot.

All at once.

Bombs fall and

babies are born

birds and animals wither away

covered with spilled oil

never able to know why

and some awaken to life

and understand for the first time.

All at once.

One kills

and one tends to the wounds.

All at once.

The ocean rises up and 10000 are wiped out

and grace visits others.

All at once.

All at once.

The scream in me

explodes and reverberates

echoes from mountain tops

descends into the rivers

floats into the ocean

which still cannot quiet it down.

So loud that

the music of the gods

comes in barely audible.

I cannot remember the time

before the scream but

I know the smell

of the freedom beyond it.

Miki Kashtan, Oakland, July 27, 1996