Old Mayan footpaths
Traipsing and running through the jungle
Offering symbiotic gestures of
Decay and Survival

Thrusting proudly and sincerely
Into humbled spaces and places

Where
They built plazas and pyramids
Where they built buildings
Lasting for centuries

Fighting off disease and Europeans
Arriving like infestations of invaders
For centuries and centuries and centuries
Over under down above

Through different kinds of jungle vines and
Enormous leaves that stay
For years and years and years
Over under down and above

Walking down the path
Which leads to the center
Climbing to the top of the pyramid
Jade circling neck
Shaman speaks to spirits

To see Four points -- From which to go
To feel Four winds -- That always blow
To observe Four seasons -- Passing slow
To say Four prayers -- In cosmic glow

Singing and chanting
In a circle of candles
Clay pots full of water
Surround the shaman’s beings
Inner and Outer
Inner and Outer
Connecting to the moon
Jade circling neck
Shaman speaks to spirits
While their mystical auras are
Outside and well off the axis
Off any logical idea of a grid
The ethereal is real
If not surreal

8.10.oh9 fLot