seeing differently

(after the Declaration of Independence)

keening hawks soar through Yosemite Valley, while We
rise with the morning sun that flows through trees that hold
echoes of birds that sing among these
magnificent granite truths
lit up by rainbows dancing from waterfalls to 
in the dawn’s light I find that moments be
now filled with beauty self-evident
 
awakening to an understanding that
stands tall as redwoods above all 
shutting out the desires of women and men
each forgetting they are
things also created
 
nature knows no equal
only the pressure of time that 
wrests brief lives out so they
 
live as part of the whole and are
in the moment endowed
vibrantly by
every breath their 
story’s  Creator
 
in such a scared space filled with
naked nature my thoughts turn to certain
 
truths that are unalienable
here that all the lives have Rights
eliciting knowledge that 
 
we live among
hallowed walls of gray stone, these
ideals built upon the moraines that are
testaments of the sanctity of Life
eager for its taste of Liberty
 
held just out of reach and
offered only to the
uninformed in selfish pursuit
seeking a meager life of
empty days without Happiness.

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Mark A. Fisher is a writer, poet, and playwright living in Tehachapi, California. His poetry has appeared in: Reliquiae, Young Ravens Literary Review, and many other places. His first chapbook, drifter, is available from Amazon. His poem “there are fossils” (originally published in Silver Blade) came in second in the 2020 Dwarf Stars Speculative Poetry Competition. His plays have appeared on California stages in Pine Mountain Club, Tehachapi, Bakersfield, and Hayward. His play “Moon Rabbit” won Audience Favorite at the Stillwater Oklahoma Short Play Festival in 2023. He has also won cooking ribbons at the Kern County Fair.