One By One

Wedgwoods on the road - August 1971 near Salina, Kansas.

One by one, they awoke.
The children gathered and
began to remember the songs.

The words awoke in their memories.
One by one, the old songs came out
and inspired new dances.

The children knew the words were borrowed
but the memories were brand new,
being made up as you go along.

They sang.

The words became new.

Secret Language

There was a secret language in the air in those days.
Dreamily written on twigs and fingertips,
wings above echoing old calls of love.

Some were scratched out, lovingly
With sudden blessings and grace
In the sounds of three birds
Listening for the call of the child.

Snakes danced in the ground,
Down old corridors of being.
Sly eyes laughing as they read
The words left for another form.

The sound, the word, the symbol
Etched in wood and stone to remind
The natural mind whence all things come
Of the One Sound vibrating away

Come and go...come and go...come and go.
No real secrets were there, merely
Forgotten words invented for someone else,
Reinvented in new colors and shapes.