How can I take in Mariana to Everest
And battle Time, when she thinks she’s the cleverest?
Here’s a curled-up baby, damp and crying
Blinking with its black eyes at the room
Every eyelash, fingernail complying
With the human blueprint from the womb.
Here’s a wrinkled shell, her soul still beating
Even after AIDS has gnawed her flesh
How to live when all of life is fleeting?
How to age, when birth appears so fresh?
How to love, when lovers die tomorrow?
How to rage, when justice walks away?
How to grieve when tears don’t lessen sorrow?
How to see the weave within the fray?
We must follow creature intuition
What humans did before we managed fire
We must understand another being’s condition
And do our best to give what they require.
We serve our human sisters and our brothers
We cannot always choose their paths through mortal night
Touched by the ancient calling: healing others
It’s enough to lend our steady beams of light.
balladrael 
