To Be Human … (07/26/08)
WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN
by Hal Boyle
To be Human is to have an angel in your mouth,
turning your prose to poetry.
It is to have the gift of tongues,
to know the language of all living things.
Does a Human pause and turn
an ear to a tree?
It is because on this day he wants to hear
what one sleepy bud says to another
as it opens its pale green hands
to the warm sun of spring.
WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN?
Oh, on this day it is music.
Not just the cornet in the parading
high school band, but the deep, deep music
of living, the low, sad rhythms of eternity.
The Human hears the high song
of the turning spheres,
the dim lullaby of the worm in its cocoon.
All the world is in tune,
A tune that only he can hear.
WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN?
It is to live the whole history of his race
between a dawn and a dawn – the long wrongs,
the bird-swift joys, the endless hurt of his ancestors
since the morning of time in a forgotten forest,
the knock-at-his-heart that is part of his religion.
WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN?
It isn’t only the realization that he is
descended from kings,
It is the realization that he is a king himself,
an empire on two feet striding in power,
a strolling continent of awe.
WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN?
It is to walk in complete mystic understanding
with God for twenty-four wonderful hours.
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