I was inspired to write this poem after visiting the Turell Skyspace at Rice University. 

I listen
When they come to see me they talk
They can’t help doing it so I don’t blame them
But the conversations!
Did you turn the stove off before we left?
Aww, look, a birdie.
Their laughter rumbles like happy thunder
And their sighs whisper like lonely wind.

 I watch
When they walk past
They either go in or stay out,
And it’s like a parade.
They run like giant squirrels
And walk heavy like fat pigeons
And drag their feet because something
(maybe calculus?)
is troubling them.

I wait
Until sunset, when they come to me
Meanwhile I think thoughts I can’t voice
And I make observations that I can’t share
And sing songs they don’t pay attention to
When I’m all to myself, that’s hard, sometimes
I get as lonely as a lost acorn.

I hold
When they come to sit
I comfort them on my cool benches
I let their troubles float out my sides,
And hold their cheerful, quiet thoughts within me.
They walk like restless mockingbirds,
And they sit still like ancient trees.

I shine
Bright! Brilliant colors
Light up the hole in my roof,
The hole that lets the sky in
And together the sky and my light
Make beautiful colors
As simple and lovely as the sunset itself.