Voices of Then

By Cliff Lake

 

Voices of Then

 

Wood and stone, and blood and bone,

We do not walk this earth alone.

Ancient voices speak from the trees,

Or murmur in the deepest seas.

On the winded mountains tall,

Do you not hear them at all?

Telling of the world when young,

Of the romance between moon and sun,

How they chase and are never done.

Of the ease of new children,

Who took to themselves power then.

Of the glitter of gold that made them blind,

Turned them cold, made them unkind.

Listen to the hollow wind sad!

Listen as it tells of men gone mad:

How they turned on creatures once named brother

How they came to believe there is the other.

Do you hear the land groan underfoot?

Are you so captivated by your output,

That these voices you will not hear,

That you cover your eyes, stop up your ear?

Bone and blood and stone and wood,

I would speak the ancient tongues if I could,

And teach you to sing with the trees,

To learn of far lands from the breeze.

To hear the tales of mountains tall,

That we may understand the All,

That we may cease our greed and then

Remember we are yet children.

Wood and stone, and blood and bone,

We do not walk this earth alone.

Ancient voices speak from the trees,

Or murmur in the deepest seas.

On the winded mountains tall,

Do you not hear them at all?

 

Cliff Lake 3/9/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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