Like One Great Web

My dog shivered at the top of the mountain, in the cold morning before the sunrise
And I held him, just one mammal to another
Our limbic brains connected across that speechless gap, from man to beast

He may not have words, but he, too, laps at the great moon  

Perhaps, in that moment, our hearts in synch, in beats that found a rhythm,
Our breath reflected some communion
And of course beneath our feet, in the forest’s deep sub-floor, an endless network of giving worked itself out, like breath and beats
In harmony—as trees poured light like heat from leaves to sunken roots, through fungal sleeves, into each other—
Yet another act of union to hold dark death at bay:
Trees who, in their own way, breathe and hold each other,
Souls planted in one another

Every time we draw breath, we connect,
And the same air fills every part of us
Perhaps no matter how big the gap, every human (and every being) connects in a great, invisible web—
In the dance we don't have perspective yet to see

I can picture it, blinking like gold,
Its strings lighting up where good is done, and love
While other strands grow weak and turn black, as ink fills the filaments,
Night overtaking light 
Through self-consumption, and deeds that hurt to speak

I wonder what the web would’ve looked like that morning, from the mountain's height

Probably blinking in and out,
In and out,
In the endless dance
In the battle to overcome the haunting fear that, even in the fullest light, we will be left alone
Bereft and unknown, to even the most generous eyes

Longing for some heart, some body to enfold us
Through the shaking cold, to lean down and hold us
To light us up with gold
To mark a larger road
And all paths home