Look out the window, look all around:

These mountains are neither yours nor mine.

We hold nothing, we stand on shaky ground.

 

Inherited or acquired, they’re not bound

To our hands, not by chain, or deed, or vine.

Look out the window, look all around.

 

We fence the yard, dam the ocean, pound

Or dig the ground in rain or shine,

We hold nothing, we stand on shaky ground.

 

Our money, we insist, makes the world go round,

We kneel and donate to the upkeep of shrines:

Look out the window, look all around.

 

How art, indeed, can free the soul, beauty is unbound,

The painter limns the stand of pines.

Still we hold nothing, we stand on shaky ground.

 

Thus Heaven reminds us, these mounds

Are never yours nor ours, let’s keep that in mind:

Look out the window, look all around,

We hold nothing, we stand on shaky ground.

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Marne Kilates

6 August 2021

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