Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments,
ownerships, I swear I perceive other lessons,
Underneath all to me is myself, to you yourself.

- Walt Whitman, "By Blue Ontario's Shore" (excerpt)

131st submission! Officially an "Addict."

Genesis 9:12-15

and here you are
a still point
a breathing monument
a complete and simple truth

i raise my phone
the black eye with its hungry memory
don't ask you to smile
nor to fix your gaze upon me
or pose
don't command you, for you are your own
great landscape,
and i'm a joyful wanderer, the witness

this is no theft, no intrusion
this click
this swift and tiny sound
it's a testimony
a whisper-loud affirmation
an etching of this blessed moment onto eternity
so that i may look upon you
again
and again

and remember
the simple, staggering
holiness of you