Whyever did I think?

For Martin and me and you, heck, all of you.

Whyever did I think

There would come a time

When the participation in,

The organization of,

Prayer vigils

Would come to an end?

It remains

In the same category

As the final obtaining

Of some sort of licensure

From some body of people

So I could prove to them

Every two or three years

I was still worthy

To pile letters

After my name.

Whyever did I think

I would see this time,

This halcyon

Dreamed about,

Prayed about

Time;

This time when the lion

Would lie down

With the lamb;

When the licensed

Might see the unlicensed

As having something of worth

To offer?

Whyever did I think

I might pray such limits

Away;

We might walk

Nay

We might skip together

In newly mown fields

Like children,

Look up at the sun

And know,

Simply know,

All of us know

It is good.

Occasional services

What if this were the last day you could drive? So many face it every day. It is usually not scheduled. Such things come suddenly, or maybe they only seem sudden when they happen to us.

There are stages

To this letting go.

First comes the accident,

The emergency room,

The letter from the state.

Now comes

The farewell

To the driver’s license;

The hello

To the state ID.

The car keys

Go last.

I think they require a ceremony

For removal from the wallet.

I wonder if a liturgy

Has been written

For this occasion,

This odd poignant occasion.

I wonder if there is a book

For such occasional services

Which I know

Are more

Than occasional.

All or nothing

I renewed my driver's license this year.  With my seizure history comes the medical form which asks the neurologist to check off a number of boxes, most of which he has no idea about.  He forgot to check yes or no next to mental illness.  If I'd seen it ahead of time, I would have done it for him.  Alas.  With the State of Illinois, all boxes must be definitively checked, whether the checker knows... or not.

The mental illness box

Was not checked

Yes or no

So the form

Was not complete.

How would the neurologist know

If I am sane?

Sometimes I doubt it

Myself.

It seems this is not

A yes or no,

Rather a perhaps,

Maybe a probably.

The State does not have a box

For perhaps or probably.

With the State

It is all

Or nothing.