I took a nap and woke up 50,
blinked twice, hit 60,
swung my legs off the couch,
boom, 67 (which I hit yesterday).
Gets one thinking about life.
How not a lot turns out as anticipated,
or even, a good percentage, as hoped for.
But gratitude for the whole package
is still the best strategy for sanity.
I don’t mean gratitude for unrelenting pain,
or evil (there’s no silver lining),
or the sorrow that kills — that would be madness.
Or even all this progress
(so-called), that never delivers on its promise.
I mean gratitude
to be held upon this earth
by a picture of a forest pond, posted by a friend,
or the long dry grass in the coulee,
that transforms your average breeze
into a Mombasa orchestra,
or this warm November wind,
here in Calgary’s foothills,
and the flashing white undersides of wings
(some bird I can’t name), climbing higher,
turning to silver.
More, gratitude for a friend,
for a travelling partner who says you matter —
that’s pretty much gold.
Speaking of life on earth,
what else is it but a quest, seems to me, for God,
whoever, whatever, God (god) is to you —
we all worship, we all serve something.
But trust me on this (I’m of age):
you can go climb the sacred mountain,
stand knocking at the gates
of Wat Pho’s mystical depths,
and still, a deer grazing on the lawn,
or a brush with a bee hive,
or your own shadow,
cantilevered over a field of snow,
is divinity enough.
Proof enough, we were made
only slightly lower than angels.
Which means
there will be a day when our leaf falls.
Until then, we’re here,
keeping company with chickadees –
their mere-ness achingly like ours,
their song, timeless.
As someone about to turn 64 this month, I love this.
Thank you Laurie, and let me be the first to a glorious 64th!
I trust your song and mine will be timeless too.
Lovely thought! Thank you Kellie.
Beautiful. Thank you for this wisdom that comes with time, for which there is no substitute. There is something calming and assuring in it. It says “stop striving and take it in. Enjoy the subtleties.” Grateful for this as I celebrate hitting midlife:)
Thank you Laura! And wishing you a wondrous midlife, full of beauty, peace and understanding.
This comes Stephen, like a sigh
of beauty and
content
just as I was needing.
Thank you
Thank you Tamara! That makes me happy. You are a complete encouragement.
Sometimes “the flashing white undersides of wings” stab me with such poignancy, I feel faint with joy. I am but one year behind you in years, becoming a bit maudlin, which suits my white hair, I think. The whole package contains much to be grateful for. I am grateful for your poem.
Thank you Valerie! Grateful for your lovely response. (And at our age we get to be maudlin without embarrassment.)
Transported again, and forever grateful to you.
Thank you kind friend!
I’ve been mired in high school today, writing memoir and giving effusive thanks for being in my sixties and for all the attention life has given me beyond that cocoon so long ago and far away. Yet I would not notice those unnamed wings without the cultivation of all that has come before. You understand this. And you pay attention. And you bless us with this gift.
Thank you Joyce, that means a lot. And I look forward to your memoir!
Thanks, Stephen. You might also like this – https://medium.com/afwp/learning-to-love-the-evening-2652a407dc85
Blessings abounding. 🙂
Thanks for this Marcia.
Your lovely and lively images…the forest pond, the wind playing through the grass, the freedom of the birds, the shadows on snow, the deer grazing so near and the buzzing of bees and of course the dear and ever-present chickadees who seem to come to keep us company…all that pull us into the moment, and draw out the long Alleluia of gratitude! It is joy to imagine them where you live. Thank you, Stephen.
Thanks so much Ann!
Warm and uplifting. Happy belated birthda Stephen ???
Thanks Ananda!
Thank you for this reminder to celebrate my “mere-ness” – beautiful as always.
Happy 67!
Thank you Dave! We celebrate together.
“Gratitude for the whole thing…a strategy for sanity. ” Thanks for the perspective.
I hope you have a great birthday. Right behind you.
Al
Thank you Al! And nice to have back up.
Simply sublime, Steve – reflecting on all the “what-ifs” I’ve collected and on my “mere-ness”, somehow a comforting thought!
Thank you, Sam!