Take Notice

It's in the tune someone hums as they walk through a store
in the flitting smile given to a stranger
the touch on the arm of a friend
the neon shoelaces
the blue-toned hair
Even the expletive jumping from my lips when someone slams on their brakes in front of me
and the thankful sigh when a collision is avoided

A strange forlorn need
at times prone to a blushing timidity
but only for a moment
In truth it's inexhaustible with persistence
a need which springs up again and again
acrobatic but clumsy, a yellow streak and a haphazard cry
stepping forward by unconscious consent

It's the part of us which silently shouts "I'm here! I'm here!"
so joyfully expectant
so buoyantly hopeful
riding out the turbulence of each uncertain hour
We beg for that one indubitably important need:
to be seen, and to belong

It's there while people are in line to buy coffee
and when they wear red
and when they chose music
when they support a cause
when they get a tattoo
when they start to dance
And when they start chemotherapy, praying and fighting and dying to live
pointing a rude finger at the cells in their body which are failing like shot soldiers
while somehow whispering "thank you" for the time they still have

The artist creates it
the architect designs it
the rocker screams it
the actor portrays it
the leader demands it
the writer pens it
the beggar reaches out for it
This whispering rush which fills the crevices of silence
"I'm here! I'm here! Take notice.
Take something for acknowledgement, something for remembrance."

So in return we face the rest of the cosmos
with arms spread wide we smile and say
"You're here! You're here! I notice."
Back and forth we wave and bow
giving and taking and longing and thanking
"We're here! We're here! We notice"
Sharing that need that is not so forlorn
but is brave, bold, and so expectant: hopeful
Bright flags held high
snapping and swooping and flashing
"We're here! We're here! We notice"