To Sound the Sweet Alarm

Kick the barn door wide!
Invite the livestock in!
Chat up every animal – ask
what each thinks is sin,

and what each sees as
blessing: seek evidence of how
divinity’s experienced by
chicken, pig and cow:

search every eye and udder
and rump and wing and tongue
for patterns of eternity –
feel fellowship among

this zoo of incarnation
come here at your behest –
register their temperaments
and smells and colors: test

it all against your acumen
and insight: understand
the connectivities that wed
the claw and hoof and hand:

listen for the principle
that animates the whole:
caress your trepidations:
pander to the soul,

indulging in varieties
of unsuspected ways
to fondle fur and feathers.
After: let your gaze

return to the vicinity
they left: the empty farm –
and usher them back into it
to sound the sweet alarm.


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