In place

Moments like this come and go again.

Everyone is in place:

Daughter at school

Beloved eating breakfast

Kitten with milk ring

Cat in his hiding place

Me in the blue chair

I consider the day.

The sun

Angled just right;

The gold leaves;

The sky blue

Muted by intermittent clouds

Everything in place

For just this moment.

Oyster

One haiku for my daughter. I wave pom poms on the side of the field. My oyster is here, in the backyard, on the street, in the office under the altar, cheerleading.

This world: her oyster

This whole world beckons her on

Me: one cheerleader

So much more

Rich day yesterday... all around.

So much more of the world

Comes more clear

When I sit

In that small room

With its window to the outside world,

Its door

To the inside.

I hear the voices

On all sides,

Even from above.

I wonder

What I could possibly hear

Next.

One world at a time

More Nora Gallagher.  This time from Things Seen and Unseen.  There is plenty to do, to contemplate, to figure out, to experience, in this world before moving on to the next.

When asked what he thought

Of the afterlife

Thoreau was heard to say

One world at a time.

One world is enough

For any of us

To imagine,

To contemplate,

Even sometimes

To bear

Without going on

To the next one

Before its time.

One world at a time.

Now is the time

For this one.

The woman on my wall

I have written about her before... the Inuit print of the Woman Who Went to the Moon.  I often see her when I meet with clients, there on the wall above the gray sofa.  She stands on the moon with her arms outstretched.  She looks like she is celebrating Eucharist.   Today I think she is.

The woman on my wall

Holds her arms in wait

For the world.

She stands there

In the silence of outer space

Stands on the moon

Waits to see

If anything changes

Holds her arms outstretched

As if to embrace the world

She sees.

From the world I see the moon.

Sometimes it seems

I can hold it

In the palm of my hand

Sometimes I think I see

The woman pictured on my wall

Waiting.

The Light comes and goes

Day five of clarity.  Yeah!  Today is Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia).  Mary and Joseph are still on their way to Bethlehem to be counted.  I imagine the Star traveled with them.  At this time of year there is so much to pay attention to, so much light to notice, so much to watch.  

As we approach

The longest night,

The longest day approaches

To the South.

The night and day

Are both about light.

They wait for the world

To turn again.

They wait and watch

For the world to turn.

Saint Lucy wears her crown

Of light today.

Mary and Joseph continue their walk

To Bethlehem,

To be counted

In the census.

The Star travels with them,

Waits to rest.

Soon it will.

I count day five

Of a clear brain

Even as the daylight hours

Grow shorter

Here in the North.

Somewhere to the South

The Light grows brighter

This time of year.

I am a creature

Of the Light.

Sometimes I even see the Star.