Next Time / From Now On

Next time what I'd do is look at
the earth before saying anything. I'd stop
just before going into a house

and be an emperor for a minute
and listen better to the wind
or to the air being still.

When anyone talked to me, whether
blame or praise or just passing time,

I'd watch the face, how the mouth
has to work, and see any strain, any
sign of what lifted the voice.

And for all, I'd know more -- the earth
bracing itself and soaring, the air
finding every leaf and feather over

forest and water, and for every person
the body glowing inside the clothes
like a light.

Next time / From now on I’m working on following the example set by my precious friend R.

photographs from the Smoke Works series by Mehmet Ozgur/ poem Next Time by Mary Oliver