Lindsay L. O'Connor

Wind Chimes

There’s a place where the sidewalk
leading up to our house
slopes in a gentle curve
down to the street.
On not-too-hot sunny days,
I am drawn to sit here and 
feel the breeze 
lift the ends of my hair
as I get lost in the sound
of the wind chimes
hanging over the porch.

They betray a physical manifestation
of the wind—
that mysterious movement
that we feel but can only see
in the effects it has on material objects.
Every time the wind moves,
the chimes respond
by singing an original tune,
perhaps never heard before or since.

We human beings
betray a physical
manifestation of the Spirit—
the mysterious movement of the Divine
that we feel and sense
in the connectedness of all beings
but can only see in part
as She is reflected
in all She has created.

Who can say
where She comes from
or where She goes?
But I hear Her
in the songs of the birds
and the rustle 
of the leaves in the trees.

I’m beginning to think
the aim of my spiritual life
is simply to notice
when and where the Spirit moves
in and around and through me
and to listen to the original song
that arises from my innermost being
in response.

~Lindsay L. O’Connor