<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="s1" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(50, 51, 51); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After a sleepless night, worrying about the world <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">I stand in the whispering grass,<br class="">watching the mountains crouch <br class="">under their burden of sky. <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">The morning sun glides above the peaks <br class="">and the field is suddenly flooded <br class="">with turquoise light. A flock of red wings rise,<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">they turn together like a page of poetry. <br class="">I read between the lines <br class="">realize I am lonely, and afraid. <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">I worry about the wars, the weather, <br class="">the end of our beautiful, broken world. <br class="">I see the way we can harden our hearts <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">when fear is what moves us. <br class="">Now a marsh hawk cruises the yellow reeds, she dives swiftly <br class="">and some soft-furred creature's life is over. <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">For each of us, hauling our basket of dreams, <br class="">it is only one breath, one breath, <br class="">that divides this world, and the next. <br class=""><br class=""><br class="">What is there to do then but give thanks, <br class="">Offer praise and gratitude for the sweetness we're allotted, <br class="">Fling open our burning hearts, and help each other. <br class=""><br class=""></span><span class="s2" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> - Elaine Sutton</span></body></html>