Photo: David Mcnew, Getty Images. LA as a result of Corona lock-down and less traffic has clearer skies. Once again Mt. Everest is visible from India and Nepal, and other cities, especially Wuhan, have clear air. For a moment the earth breathes, but only a moment, and we’re not touching even the tip of the carbon berg.
“Silence is only frightening people who are compulsively verbalizing.” William S. Buroughs
Breathe Again
Why haven’t we done this before,
is the monk’s cell so vulgar,
so stark, that we cannot contemplate
the wholeness of solitude
and turn aside, weary as we are,
to rest a while from the wheel,
letting the earth breathe again,
that we might too.
©Paul Vincent Cannon
Paul, pvcann.com
parallax 
Amen! ❤
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Thank you 🙂
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Reblogging this to my readers at sister site Poetic Justice
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Many thanks Ana, appreciate that.
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My great pleasure, my brother
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❤️
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Pingback: Breathe Again – Poetic Justice
Beautiful
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Thank you.
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Your welcome
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Wonderful 🍃
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Thank you 🙂
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And so badly we and the earth need to catch our breath. I harbor a small hope this pause in pollution could grow into an interlude.
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If only, I’m hoping our slow down might indeed be reflected upon.
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Fingers crossed.
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Yes.
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I am ever hopeful that some form of change will come about from this pause. Wonderful poem.
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Yes, I’m hoping too. Thank you Heather.
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Welcome.
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Beautiful!
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Many thanks.
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Well-said, Paul. Burroughs is the last person I expected that quote to come from!
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Yes, I’m constantly surprised by people. Thank you Lisa.
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You are very welcome.
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Beautiful and hopeful?
Sent from my iPad
>
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Many thanks Cheryl, yes, hope.
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Beautiful
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Thank you so much.
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कितना सही कहा है,मां धरती चैन की सांस ले रही है।
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हमने भी लिखा है इसपर
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Yes something to celebrate – in a dark time light is starting to filter through – oh for the monastic life to become a common practice again
>
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If only. Yes.
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Tja, one wonders, perhaps, possible, maybe, …..
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Yes, possible, but always a question.
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The first line says it all: what is so important that we can’t take time out to let the earth breath.
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Yes, we are on a knife edge, thanks for drawing that out VJ
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Welcome, Paul
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🙂
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Ahh… “letting the earth breathe again…” beautifully expressed. Thank you, Paul!
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Just imagine if we let go some stuff 🙂
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Yea 🙂
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The “breathing earth” is a wonderful expression.
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So important, many thanks Michael.
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Yes, it is. Let us hope that the Earth will not soon be given a breath ban again. Thank you too, Paul!
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Well, capitalism will try again sadly.
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That’s to be feared, Paul. We have become so accustomed to the backlash, between capitalism and communism. In reality, it is the backlash of poor and rich.
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Yes, no middle ground sadly.
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I would love to rest awhile from the wheel.
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Yes, and at present it has ramped up a notch, no sign of rest yet.
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It’s the same here. If COVID weren’t bad enough, a tornado just tore through Louisiana.
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O, that is terrible news. Yes, it can pile on quickly when nature takes its course.
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It was so horrible to watch the newscast. People standing in front of a pile of rubble that used to be their house and emergency response leaders giving updates on the emergency response wearing masks.
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Surreal. I finally caught up with that news yesterday, people have died too. One house was sitting in a road.
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Thank you indeed Charles
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Yes earth breathes a little these days but the cost some have paid is beyond audit.
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Yes, some have and sadly more will I fear. The research already coming out of the universities is interesting in that it points to how nature is so under pressure. One lot of research into EBOLA shows how it resulted from land clearing and the forcing of species into closer proximity. I guess it may bring change to how we see progress and practice, or maybe not. Thank you Rupali.
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I hope good will come out of the collective efforts.
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Me too, if only we could learn and transform collectively, sigh.
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Lets try from our side 🙂
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Yes, good thought Rupali, let’s. 🙂
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I’m hoping and hoping and hoping that we will somehow continue to rest, at least a little longer, even when everything is back up and running. Somehow. I know it’s unlikely. But the quiet has been so nice and the sky so blue and the waters so clear. If only.
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Yes, I guess even if the machine cranks up we do have to make our own choices as to how much we engage. I’m wondering how I’ll go. Thank you.
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A wonderful poem for all the world.
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Beautifully written!
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Thank you so much for that.
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