Stop for a Moment
\nBy
\nJoseph Anthony Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Listen:
\nYou never were
\nAnything less
\nThan you are now, and yet,
\nOne day, one day sooner
\nThan you think,
\nYou will be so much more.
\nIt isn\u2019t simply a matter of perspective.
\nIt is more akin
\nTo falling in love with yourself.
\nHow can this be, and what
\nDoes loving yourself
\nHave to do with anything?
\nClose your eyes.
\nPlease.
\nBreathe in the image
\nOf a seed sleeping in the earth,
\nHold it there a moment\u2014
\nNow breathe out the image
\nOf a tree crowned with the sky.
\nWonderful.
\nNow breathe in the image
\nOf a bird\u2019s egg,
\nHold it there a moment\u2014
\nThen breathe out the image
\nOf a bird, in this case an owl
\nGliding with a mantle of stars
\nOver a moonlit marsh.
\nTell me:
\nHow is a tree\u2014sturdy
\nYet swaying, rooted yet reaching,
\nNot an image of the earth
\nLoving itself into the sky?
\nHow is an owl, a heart with wings,
\nNot an image of the night
\nTurning its head around
\nTo look at itself in pure astonishment
\nAnd admiration?
\nYou were once a zygote
\nAnd now you are reading this
\nBlossoming into your life;
\nYou are what loving your neighbor
\nAs yourself is all about.
\nYou are a seed-spark growing,
\nReaching, branching out as a body of light\u2014
\nGod\u2019s own flame
\nDancing in a hearth of flesh and bone,
\nAnd one day, one day sooner than you think,
\nThe flame will leap from the room
\nOf your life and become an owl of astonishment
\nPerched in a tree crowned with the sky
\nAnd sleep all day in a mantle of clouds,
\nWaiting for the night to fall in love
\nWith itself again, so you can drop
\nAnd express yourself in silent flight
\nSwathed in moonlight and a hunger
\nThat is both holy and full of becoming more
\nThan you are now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n