Like Tears Falling on Pavement

Excuse me,

please.

Tears flow down my face,

splash on concrete and asphalt.

I have just come from wild mountains to this

living flat in flat town.

In wild granite stone,

life, green leaved bush,

living grass, growing tree.

Succulents grow from every crack,

every small pocket of stone eroded to soil.

Lichen lives on every surface.

This living stone has been

replaced by buildings of concrete

scrubbed clean of all life.

Bears, elk, deer, mountain lions

coyotes, birds, move with seasons

celebrate life celebrate eternity

of the force of life.

Replaced by metal and plastic machines

sucking life-feeding oxygen

spitting waste on stone pavement

spitting waste into air that nourishes the earth

into water that feeds life.

Excuse me please.

Tears flow from my eyes

splash on asphalt, on concrete,

as useless as water

in a world without life.