advice to self— 

and to leaders 

in times of crisis 

and ordinary times: 

you have no answers 

not one 

stop 

& listen 

to those who do not speak 

to the pauses between words 

to the gossip of leaves 

to the boughs of trees 

to the turn of tide 

to the change of wind 

to the spaces between droplets 

of rain 

to the clouds— 

they see more 

& ask better questions 

to the cycles of time 

the ancestral energy 

the spin of earth  

& hum of universe 

listen  

to those you oppose 

and those you own 

and those you have contempt for— 

you who think your thoughts 

& have already done so much 

stop 

it is time to hear.