Friday

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Yesterday came and went.
There was nothing significant in it.
Yet it was Friday,
not important to me
as it is to others.
I’m glad you got your Friday.
It was just another day to me.





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Birds

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My little birds,
safely in their cage,
are enjoying fresh air
outside my window.
They are calling to their wild cousins,
seemingly without understanding
the differences that separate them.
How happily they sing,
as if freedom is theirs.
Nothing has changed,
not really,
but don’t tell them.
They think the world is theirs.

And so it is.


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Change

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Sometimes I think about what I would change
if I could,
if I had the power to go back
and do it differently,
and I would!
I would make this go away.
I would change that to a happier moment.
I would take back what I said on that day.
I would make that last longer.

And then I think again.
No, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Anything different would ripple down to where I am
and I would be different.
I would not have learned a lesson.
I would have been so happy
I might have not noticed that person.
I might have missed a turn in the path
that led me to who I am
today.

I have regrets.
Yes.
But I have more treasures
by far.


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Two

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Two wine glasses,
rims almost touching,
on the table beside the bed.

Two bodies,
like the glasses,
lie in the crumpled sheets,
not quite touching.

Wine stains on the glass,
dark,
look dirty.

Do the stained glasses
reflect the people?

Or is everything unrelated?

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Movement

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I often feel I feel I’m standing still.
Life seems to be hanging by a thread,
still and quiet,
nothing moving.
I see no change,
no progress.
nothing.
But much like the turning of the Earth,
our lives move on without our noticing.
Each rotation of the Earth
brings new things,
new life,
new something,
to each of us.
but sometimes we don’t even notice.
So it is with my life.
Every day is full of fresh new somethings,
if I just look.
Moving on with life is good,
if we look
and listen
and smell
and feel
and live life.
Moving on with life is good.
Just not if we sleep through it.



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It Would Be Nice

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All my life I’ve lived by routine,
sometimes my own,
but most often routines set by others.
Bosses.
Doctors.
The law.
Parents.
Government.
Church.
Teachers.

In retirement I’m learning a new pace.
Many of those previous demanders in my life
are gone.
I’m finding it not always easy to know
my routine,
my own direction and energy,
to fill the places
where others used to peg.
Can we live without routine?
It would be nice.



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