There is a practice I have long failed at.
That is the downtown meditative walk.
The nature walk is hard.
The inner-city contemplative walk,
is close to impossible.
The mindful awareness of willow
and leaf veins in a world with nerve gas
is hard. Mindfulness while seeing Angel
sleeping on the sidewalk is unattainable.
This is my experience.
This would not be the experience of Sariputta.
My only consolation is that trying makes me happy.
Without trying I would not have noticed Angel.
I would not have learned her name.
