This poem is very long<br />So long, in fact, that your attention span<br />May be stretched to its very limits<br />But that’s okay<br />It’s what’s so special about poetry<br />See, poetry takes time<br />We live in a time<br />Call it our culture or society<br />It doesn’t matter to me cause neither one rhymes<br />A time where most people don’t want to listen<br />Our throats wait like matchsticks waiting to catch fire<br />Waiting until we can speak<br />No patience to listen<br /><br />But this poem is long<br />It’s so long, in fact, that during the time of this poem<br />You could’ve done any number of other wonderful things<br />You could’ve called your father<br />Call your father<br />You could be writing a postcard right now<br />Write a postcard<br />When was the last time you wrote a postcard?<br />You could be outside<br />You’re probably not too far away from a sunrise or a sunset<br />Watch the sun rise<br />Maybe you could’ve written your own poem<br />A better poem<br />You could have played a tune or sung a song<br />You could have met your neighbor<br />And memorized their name<br />Memorize the name of your neighbor<br />You could’ve drawn a picture<br />(Or, at least, colored one in)<br />You could’ve started a book<br />Or finished a prayer<br />You could’ve talked to God<br />Pray<br />When was the last time you prayed?<br />Really prayed?<br /><br />This is a long poem<br />So long, in fact, that you’ve already spent a minute with it<br />When was the last time you hugged a friend for a minute?<br />Or told them that you love them?<br />Tell your friends you love them<br /><br />…no, I mean it, tell them<br /><br />Say, I love you<br /><br />Say, you make life worth living<br />Because that, is what friends do<br />Of all of the wonderful things that you could’ve done<br />During this very, very long poem<br />You could have connected<br />Maybe you are connecting<br />Maybe we’re connecting<br />See, I believe that the only things that really matter<br />In the grand scheme of life are God and people<br />And if people are made in the image of God<br />Then when you spend your time with people<br />It’s never wasted<br />And in this very long poem<br />I’m trying to let a poem do what a poem does:<br />Make things simpler<br />We don’t need poems to make things more complicated<br />We have each other for that<br />We need poems to remind ourselves of the things that really matter<br />To take time<br />A long time<br />To be alive for the sake of someone else for a single moment<br />Or for many moments<br /><br />Cause we need each other<br /><br />To hold the hands of a broken person<br />All you have to do is meet a person<br />Shake their hand<br />Look in their eyes<br /><br />They are you<br /><br />We are all broken together<br />But these shattered pieces of our existence don’t have to be a mess<br />We just have to care enough to hold our tongues sometimes<br />To sit and listen to a very long poem<br />A story of a life<br />The joy of a friend and the grief of friend<br />To hold and be held<br />And be quiet<br /><br />So, pray<br />Write a postcard<br />Call your parents and forgive them and then thank them<br />Turn off the TV<br />Create art as best as you can<br />Share as much as possible, especially money<br />Tell someone about a very long poem you once heard<br />And how afterward it brought you to them