Look up

Among the greatest sorrows,
greatest sorrows ..
among the vast calamities
of all calamities…
to befall mankind,
is this:

It is to think of everything
every… thing
yet never of what is… real.

The greatest danger is not the war,
natural disasters.. no.
The greatest danger
is the men who walk,
heads bowed,
eyes fixed on the ground, (phone?)
never lifting their gaze
to what hovers… above.

Consciousness—
are we conscious?
Or are we sleepwalkers,
dreaming in broad daylight,
deaf to the whispers of the world.
Whispers of the world...

We walk here,
we walk there,
trees everywhere
trees… everywhere
we look at the trees
but we do not see them.

The trees, they call to us—
their leaves brushing,
like a shaker in the wind,
a symphony of green,
begging us to listen.

Sometimes they bow,
side to side,
waving their arms in desperation,
as if to say,
I'm here! I'm here!
Look up! look up!
We are here! Alive!
Pulsing with the same breath
that fills your lungs!
We give you oxygen—
where is your gratitude?

But no —
we are not conscious.
All we see is wood!
Trees are merely things—
material to carve, to build,
to turn into more things.

But there are some,
some who marvel at the trees,
they look at the trees
And they say,
"How beautiful...
nice road decos!"
And that is it.
All they see..
are trees.

And, there are some—
a rare few—
who pause,
who see beyond the trees.
They notice the wind!
The trees can't move!
It was the wind shaking the leaves!

And so, they pay attention to the wind.
They raise their hands,
to feel its invisible touch,
to marvel at its unseen dance.
And that is it.
All they see
is the wind.

And among them,
even fewer in number—
the ones who see not the trees,
nor the wind, no...
but beyond.
They understand:
the trees do not move.
The wind does not move.
They are mere effects
Effects of... an energy!

These are the ones
who glimpse the truth—
that all is but an echo,
a ripple,
an effect of something
far greater,
far more... real.

And in their seeing,
they awaken—
not to answers,
but to wonder.
Not to things,
Not about things,
but to what lies
between,
beyond,
within.

Aydarus Ahmad Alhabshi
Jan 2025