THE APOLOGY

Every time

the apology

rose up inside

it came with 

the pronoun “I.”

I’m sorry.

The “I” 

was the problem.

Its very presence

negated the apology

and felt like a sign 

of disrespect.

The “I” introduced

a self that was

separate from the rest.

It stole from the village,

from the one breath,

from the one beating heart,

from the garden.

It tore its precious root

from the grandmother tree. 

The only way

to create harmony,

to reconnect to

the spoked wheel 

of light again

was to say:

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Only without the self-

serving “I”

could there be

the possibility

of the altar of “us.”