When Buddha went out on his own,
when Jesus remained in the wilderness,
did they learn the living web of the world?
And where do we find the fulsome language
of the stone and the first frogs before rain,
the buffalo, wild horse, even the three-toed,
and still-unknown creatures of a sea shining in darkness?
Unless we venture into the world
where we may find some cure for the present,
we will not know how far we have to go back
to speak once again with the animals,
to learn the song the first ones laid down
before the holy men and history-lost women
were born to kindness among their own.
How far do we have to go, how far is it
to the holy springs, the first water,
the first bone of our creation,
to compassion for all in that beginning
human marrow?