We Alone

Spending the July 4th holiday weekend with extended family in Tennessee and North Carolina reminded once again not to take for granted even the simplest, most common gifts--the quirky smile of a newborn, the hearty laughter of a sibling, the warm hug of a parent, the happy sound of birdsong in the early morning, or the cool evening breeze. Are there any better forms of wealth, after all, than riches such as these?

We Alone

by Alice Walker

We alone can devalue gold
by not caring
if it falls or rises
in the marketplace.
Wherever there is gold
there is a chain, you know,
and if your chain
is gold
so much the worse
for you.

Feathers, shells
and sea-shaped stones
are all as rare.

This could be our revolution:
to love what is plentiful
as much as
what's scarce.