What if
we are living in a new diaspora
after another Babel tower
crumbled to the ground
despite generations of
building upward
not outward
scaling the heavens
as if ascent was the goal
not forward and generous embrace
horizontal progression
inclusion of variance
what if we weren’t meant
to codify truth
or commodify community
as if one way of being
or doing
or loving
or believing
or grieving
or giving
was fully reflective of the sacred
the holy finally and fully contained
and proclaimed
what if difference was divine
and all efforts to preserve and protect
power
or the past
romance with the familiar
were let go
and our grip on what once was
believed good
released
to grasp
or at least grow
sink our hands in the soil of
what can be good
though new and mysterious
uncertain and unclear
not fully explained
or owned by one people
or practice
what if now is the beginning of
our next
and wholeness found
not in moving upward
rather listening inward
looking outward
and finding faith again
in the many
not the one
emerging freely
beyond convention
in spaces and places
persons and passions
unhindered
what if