Wind in Your Hair

You’re not completely confused.
You’ve gained some understanding
Of yourselves and what you need

To tolerate awareness.
Your breathing exercises,
Social participations,

Reminders that this moment
Is the moment that you have.
Routine prayer and worship pace

The racing pulse, the terrors
Of death and dismemberment
That can swallow awareness

Even when all’s going well
For the beast in the moment.
Trapped in language and culture,

You have still benefited
A little from accruals
Of what passes for wisdom.

Your little skulls, the chassis
For symbolism’s engines,
Get dragged all over the world

At speeds they aren’t fit to take,
With horrible accidents
Occurring on many curves,

But you can ease through some turns,
Coast to pauses, if not stops.
You may learn to handle this

Machinery made from you,
And if not you, your offspring.
When it’s rolling, love the view.