American Tao -- no. 14

Iron ore is in the ground

lying in wait to erect itself

like a spine unfurled

into the air to hold you

above the din of human noise.

But if it all comes crumbling down

do you do nothing but stand

in the morass of worry?

Where do you go

to collect your thoughts?

Is it a conundrum that

the deeper into the woods

you go the less lonely you feel?

Not really,

because you are

the earth

which neither stands

nor falls down.