listening deeply

My listening deeply is a poem, an ode to attention and silence, an active movement into space, where i might be sitting atop a 14,000 foot mountain peak deep in the Colorado Rockies, west of the Continental Divide, immersed in the feeling of untamed winds blowing through my hair, and feeling, too, the heartbeat of the rocks, heated by the sun, smoothed by the rains, and then, as if by magic, i might be in a room with people, those i know and those i want to know more about, listening to stories about lives lived and steps yet to be taken, and i hear the breathing and see the faces speaking with lips and active tongues as words soften the air, reaching out, and it's as though we are all together on shifting ground, sitting firmly, seeing the world for a first time, reaching one another across the short divide, across the space until there is no longer space, only the mountain top on a clear blue sky day, and we are all sitting together, as indioviduals and yet a group, a community, enthralled by the immensity we witness, the stunning simpleness of a touch, the power of a kiss, a thought expressed that we hear while humbled by the closeness that listening deeply gifts us with.