Waking the Sleepers

Do all that which holds your human heart to the earth,

And all that which severs or disrupts, that thing reject,

Leave it behind you, at the back of you, it will not trouble you there,

Hearts that walk long and loose from the earth will stretch and fray,

Like joints that strain and tear and finally snap in the ligaments,

In the tendons and sinews that hold flesh to bones,

And the muscle of your heart will come loose from the bones of the earth,

And become an old and weak thing, sick and dying,

Let your heart roam close to the ground, in the leaves and grass,

Do not stay long from the dark earth between your toes,

Or the running water of streams, or the shade of trees,

Breathe these things as air, take them as nourishment into your body,

Walk in the sunlight or the starlight or in the blackness without light,

Do not fear the sound of your own heart in the darkness,

Do not fear to wander the deep places there, or what you may find,

Do not fear the remembering or forgetting of things,

Do all that which touches the human spirit and makes it feel,

And all that which makes it sleep and walk as dead, reject,

Put it behind you, let its memory slip through the fingers of your mind,

Wake your spirit with laughter and music, read books, think thoughts,

Do not fear the feel of fire in the marrow of your bones,

These things are as hot blood in the heart and soul of you,

Love deeply and with passion, do not fear the closeness of intimacy,

Go about in power and great wonder, living, touching and breathing,

Do not let the beauty of things pass by your eyes asleep,

Make music upon the instruments of your heart and,

Let the movements of your body be as poetry in the eyes,

Dance in the darkness with hearts and spirits on fire,

Live deeply and savor much, consume and be consumed,

Be filled with longing and take pleasure in strange and lovely things,

Taste every good thing and that which is bitter to you, reject,

Let love and compassion rule in you wholly and freely,

Comfort the casualties, bind the broken, heal the hurting,

Do not always be weeping but never forget the hot taste of tears,

Walk gently but strive mightily with power and strength,

Dream often and deeply and do not be afraid of the grandeur of your own spirit,

Or the heighth and breadth from which it may leap and plunge in the darkness,

Do not forever keep it bound in the prison of the expected normalities,

Or locked tight in soft cages of caution and comfort,

Instead, unbar the doors and open every window,

Let your human spirit roam freely, seeking and searching,

Touching and feeling hearts and minds, wanting and finding,

Let your mind not shy from believing or disbelieving anything you’ve learned,

But rather, let it ever seek eagerly after answers,

As a child gently reaching for the hands of its father,

Softly grasping, holding and feeling palms and fingers,

And your spirit will go forth before you, a sleek and beautiful thing,

Sailing the soft, sweat air, sounding out depth and distance,

Touching hearts and spirits in power and laughter,

Bounding mountains, leaping chasms, flying fields and forests,

Strengthened in all its fibers and tissues, to the frame of the earth,

Hot blood pulsing in each vein of you, the song of spirits and hearts,

Ringing out, opening the closed eyes and waking the sleepers.

Eric M. Petit