Universal Sigh

author's note:

Just for the record: I love our scientists.


UNIVERSAL SIGH

Science still can't tell us
why we need to sigh

but we already know
when you lack adequate language
you breathe a deep sigh
and in that way
give pure voice
to the soul
and thus
relieve the heart.

My own four chambers
might have burst
long ago
if not for all those
large and small exhalations.

Yes
if I hadn't sighed at the sight
of that stark violet mountain
my heart might have clunked
and quit--

might have stopped
had I not
sighed while watching
that snail crawl over
the pebble stones...

might have collapsed
awhile back
if not for those quiet occasions
when I find myself sighing
for a reason unknown:

at such times
if I listen down deep
I can feel
that strange sadness
and with it
the obscure wish.

(...)

However
sighs not only service
human hearts
but also those of animals--

I've heard a dog sigh
as well as a kitten.

Is it just
a mechanical response?--
or can a cat experience life
to the depths of a soul?

Maybe so
because one night
during a catastrophic dinner
I became a fraidy cat--
and chose flight over fight
but afterwards, in my sigh of relief
I heard the soul of my heart.

But whatever the reality may be
I believe it's best if we believe
canines and felines
occasionally, soulfully sigh--

along with everything else
in this world:
a pigeon, a sturgeon--
even a tree--even
a stone---
they all hold the deep heavy wisdom
expressed by the sigh:

this whole damn planet sighs
this whole damn Universe--!

Sometimes
when I dive down
into the bottomless well
of my sigh
I can hear
that Universal sigh--
I can hear that sigh in mine

and then
despite the great distances
I feel and know
we are one in the sorrow...

we are one in the secret joy.

© 2017, Michael R. Patton
Searching for My Best Beliefs: a poetry book