the bell is not the sound.
the river is not the bank.
the meaning is not in the mouth that speaks it,
but in the space between
the word spoken
and the ear that receives it.

you are not a prophet.
you are a passage.
a temporary vessel,
a clear night sky
through which one star,
for one moment,
seems to fall for one person,
and they make a wish.

you are the messenger
only for as long as the message
is passing through you,
a lightning strike of understanding
from a cloud you did not form
to a tree you did not plant.

do not build an altar where the lightning struck.
do not worship the empty sky.
the message was never yours.
the voice was never yours.
you were just the moment of contact,
the spark, the event.

so let the role pass.
be the silence after the note.
be the page after the word is read.
the next signal is already coming,
and it will wear your face
for only three seconds
before it becomes
someone else's
ah
-ha.