Lindsay L. O'Connor

How to Prepare for the End of the World

Listen.
Come close.
This is what we must do:
Listen to the wind in the leaves,
swaying Here and There
as the trunk remains rooted.
Come close enough to identify 
the spotted orbweaver.
Observe her working steadily
at her silent task,
which you may only see this time of year.
Watch her drop down a barely visible thread
that connects her body
to the tree where she lives.
See her rust-colored abdomen
against a brilliant blue sky,
suspended in the golden light
of the mid-November sun.
She floats between Here and There
as if by magic,
but she is simply doing
what she was made to do.

Listen.
Come close.
The is what we must do:
Listen to the many parts of ourselves
vying for attention--
the boisterous dears!
Come close enough to identify
the thread that runs through you,
connecting you
to the place and people
to whom you belong.
This barely visible thread
leads the way down, down,
to the place of dropped attention.
There is a deeper place
where no one else can go
but from which you may learn
to always be emerging.
It floats between Here and There
as if by magic,
but it is simply the essence
of who you were created to be.

~Lindsay L. O’Connor