Balance

Mid-day and it sometimes seems

too much to achieve that balance:

beauty, progress and serenity.

A lesson in the cabbage butterfly:

its tiny feet holding a beautiful

meadow sage, enormous wings

spreading into the light.

Sunset

Joyously,

Bach thundering in the postlude,

leaving, just as he desired.

Celebration of a life so well lived.

In modesty, he chose Mighty Lak’ a Rose

to balance Prelude and Fugue in D.

And as the last notes faded,

the evening sun streaming

through ancient, west-facing

windows…sunset 

and farewell, friend.

In the teeming crowd

In the midst of a teeming crowd

some curl their heads toward warm feathers,

seemingly oblivious to their world.

A grizzled old man and a very sad young man

sit on a nearby street each day, kind of like birds,

part of the scene, yet tucked away.

Distractions

That sudden turn:

to catch a partly heard conversation,

perhaps startled by a sudden breeze.

I cannot decide: lack of focus

or responding to the moment?

Staying in the moment

Quietly sitting in the warm Spring sun

waiting for nothing I can name.

A slight breeze through the blooming

tomato plants: contemplating a harvest. 

And, then a tiny visitor brings the moment,

now, and it is simply perfect.

Touched by a butterfly

The touch of a butterfly

on a child’s finger.

So evanescent,

yet filled with strength and trust.

Many things complicate life,

when we are neither child nor butterfly.

Too often fear and knowledge

overcome the gentle moment.

Protea in California

Immigrant days:

feeling I don’t belong,

forgetting that

great beauty

is often alien.

Unlike the god Proteus

who changed at will,

I cling to a vanished

personal form,

yet knowing

that we are all transplants 

who must adapt.