Pieces of the sky,
clouds blue the color of slate.
You rise each morning, the dawn is like a new question. You choose to answer the question or not.
Which questions, I wonder, have I left unanswered over the years. Either I didn't notice them, or I growled and turned away. How much we lose to inattention or surliness.
Sometimes were left saying "huh? - wondering.
I re-commit myself to paying attention, to being in this place, in this moment, now.
Frost hard on the windshield. Cold fingers.
Desire is like a dream of wildflowers in a gentle breeze. You wake, the flowers have so quickly vanished. The cold nights make our truth truer.
The flag at the cemetery blows east to west. Last night it was blowing north to south. The sky to the north wears a see-through dress this morning.
Salt stains the roadway. I miss the ocean. I miss the smell of it. I miss the taste of salt water.
I can have it both ways: winter here, the ocean in Cozumel; I just can't have it both ways today. And I don't want to lose either, so I am patient. I go in to my day's work today. I'll go away to the ocean next January, and I'll be ready to soak it in through my very skin.
"Which questions, I wonder, have I left unanswered over the years. Either I didn't notice them, or I growled and turned away. How much we lose to inattention or surliness." How much we lose indeed. Is there no way to be truly awake before so much is lost? I wonder that every day.
Posted by: Sharon | February 15, 2007 at 09:02 PM
Hi, Sharon. If I have any message to leave the people of the world, it's this: PAY ATTENTION. This is (so far as I know) the only go-round we get, so we want to make it the best go-round we can!
Posted by: Tom Montag | February 16, 2007 at 05:04 PM