The Compact

[DonSchaeffer]

All I know
is that I wake up
and there is color and shape
and there are stories,
pathways I did not devise,
taught and told and written.
These things are not mine.
That's what makes them real.
They don't favor me. They are
here in spite of me. My alliances
are choices I make.
I must agree to keep them.
We are partners,
you and I,
the storied planet,
the day.