Holding the World Together

Wouldn't tomorrow be the day if we were to rise up early
And take part in the morning as though
We too have a part. Alone in our empty households,
As if among those who belong there, we could arise
With a sense of purpose, with an awareness of having worth,
With a reasonable set of objectives related
To what is useful, to that which is
In a sense of use, beginning
With ourselves, with our truly beginning
To be there, and then joining in
With the crowd of those who rise up
And get to work. I can almost see us now
Wearing the shoes that fit us, taking steps to take
The steps we take, before our doubts
Can overtake us, and then stopping to buy
A thought that we do buy, that makes its point
Out of the point where we stand: when the time comes
To arrive, out of freedom or necessity, we can call
On ourselves to call a halt.
There we'll be in the two-way street, holding each other up,
As though nothing could touch us that can't itself be touched,
And I'll look at you, and you'll look at another,
And when you turn, you'll see me smile, it will be
That kind of morning, when even the eyes
You see yourself in smile
To see themselves in yours.
You'll be the one who greets me. I'll be the one you greet.
You'll nod as one who knows me. I'll nod as the one you know.
You'll take the hand I offer, you'll give me back
The hand that takes, until the one
Is grasping the other, wouldn't that just
Be our morning, to feel the hands
We place ourselves in held
So firmly within our own.
Before the time arrives when there is no one left
To wait for, when the ones longing to touch us
Are gripped by themselves and can't be touched,
Before the trees have made their point,
Before our places no longer need us,
Before the use we were to be put to
Has come and gone to do its work,
Why don't we both get up, and be there
In the morning, bringing
Our small parts
To the world we hold
Together that is our own.