We're Related

Our house is long and open and flowing,

with lots of windows and doors,

and most of the shades are up.

You don't have to look outside,

on purpose.

The trees and sky are always in your peripheral vision. 

I like it when people come in and out,

out and in,

leaving doors open sometimes,

even though we're not trying to heat the outside,

and we weren't born in a barn.

Having guests sleep over,

having a lot of people in our house,

telling neighbors to please drop by anytime,

is so much nicer than phone calls,

and formal invitations. 

Especially since we're related. 

Well, we're really all related. 

Father Abraham, had many sons,

and many sons had Father Abraham,

and I am one of them, and so are you...

There's that idea, 

and there's also the immensity of

the Universe,

which we can't understand,

none of us can,

but among all of the millions of stars,

and life forms, from invisible to visible,

from under the oceans to under our nails,

there's us, and we're just like this, 

the way we are,

so then we're related. 

Someone said to me yesterday,

"I talked to a frog when I was alone,

in the mountains." 

I said, "I talk to spiders, to all bugs,

to all creatures, all of the time."

He said, "I talk to everything. Tell my wife,

I'm not the only one."

So he's related to me, 

and also,

we're all related to the frog, 

and to the spiders. 

I know, because I can see myself in them,

in him, in her, in you. 

Sometimes I can feel what you feel,

and hear your thoughts,

if I'm quiet enough. 

When I really look at you,

I can see just how,

we're really related. 

We're not the same.

But we're not separate.

What's yours is yours,

and what's mine is mine,

but sometimes it's yours, too,

if not today, then it used to be yours,

or it will be tomorrow. 

What we share is immensely larger,

like the immensity of the Universe,

that much larger,

than all that is different about us,

if you can see the grand scale.

How does that make you feel?

It makes me feel really, really

close to you,

and close to something,

I will never lose,

and no one had to give it to me,

and no one can take it away,

or lay exclusive claim to it,

because it belongs to all of us,

and I am thankful,

we're related.