Now and Again

Now the giraffe-like lily, turning its head to look out the window in graciousness.

Now the blackberry, summer’s thimble, its shape discussed at a celestial seminar where Sun and Moon are merely attendees, two out of ten-thousand. The fruit is not on a bush beneath a tree in some faraway land, but here, now, staining my skin, its essence nestling in among the tissues of my hands, their skin softened by enough olive oil to last many lifetimes of a cook.

Now the argumentative weather, now the hawks circling overhead, descending as if on a grand and circular staircase. Now and again, the clean birth of plants, the messy one of animals. Now the mystic light whose source is unidentifiable even for scientists.

Now and again, the contemplation of time and how it doesn’t exist, confused by the human mind with earthly cycles and a construct of our own devising. Now and again, the world seen as verse, as hymn.

Now the sound of the woodpecker seeking his morning meal, now I seek my own among oats, tea, fruit, the sound of an egg frying in a pan. Now the grain of the sturdy wood beams that are the rib cage of this house. Now the house – the rib cage of your life.

Now the ghosts of loved ones returning, they in graciousness while I just try for it, following me from room to room while I eat, sleep, dancing the dance of sitting then standing then sitting again, walking then writing then walking again, looking out of – and into – windows.

Now and again we return to the hawks, the weather, the blackberry.

Now we return to the lily.