Before the Noise

I began to listen

to life —

to show up

and listen

to what was around me,

perhaps as our ancestors

once listened —

before all the noise.

And so I began

to listen

a little more deeply —

not analyzing each sound,

but waiting for the music

to continue,

noticing my own part

within in it

and outside of it.

And I couldn’t imagine

it being any other way.