Walking steps you to the future
like butterfly stories that spur conversation
greeting each bend with anticipation
The challenge of routine, increasing strength
of repetition, the practice
like contentment of a simple life
You will tread paths of regrets and sadness
riverbed exposed, colors of trees changed
when survival is perilous.
The future belongs to you
Don’t be afraid.
I felt content like a girl who danced on the first day of summer.
Walking to the river when the day’s temperature is 85 I saw 3 butterflies flying, the white heron resting on a rock on the river bank with only one fisherman braving the heat.
I walked with frequent stops under shades provided by trees. A cool breeze made my walk enjoyable without soaking in sweats.
I finished my 2-mile loop without suffering from heat exhaustion. Shortly after I arrived home Mrs. Abstract arrived from her aquatic exercises from her friend’s pool. We fulfilled our daily routine.
Note: Mrs. Abstract had a zoom-meeting with the walker’s group from the Women Guild this afternoon. I had my zoom-meeting with the NV Writers this evening. This coming Saturday I will have a virtual discussion in my Book Club. She will have a zoom-meeting of her college friends (6 of them) on Sunday. They meet virtually every two Sundays since the Cobid. They have a yearly reunion.
I am sitting on a chair,
eating an egg cheese sandwich
next to a table where
a blue jay is alighting
my seem absurd
The surprise is I’m not surprised
a natural way of recognition
maybe a sacred moment
an angel disguised as a bird
a simple intimate detail of grace.
Below on the walking path
mountain hikers indulge the outdoors, sunshine
somewhere, everywhere the virus rages.
Invent reality?
Is there a minimum of thought
One has to do everyday?
She is playing a guitar
and humming then singing
about ideas and consequences
then stops and starts writing furiously
“Examine your own courage
if you can get up every morning
with a better will than the day before?”
A cat comes, nozzles in her arms
She touches her with equal affection
then she looks at me and exclaims:
“Is it sad or meaningful or ostentatious to say—
I hiked Switzerland the whole summer?
Or I hug cows to relieve my stress?”
The cat jumps, goes to the window, sits purring.
Time folds, distorts harmony of living
Why bemoans the loss during the pandemic
Thousands are dying, millions lost their jobs,
thousands are lining up for food.
Time has changed unlike any other time:
A call for one another to stay together.
I walked to the river before noon. Mrs. Abstract was doing her aquatic exercises in a friend’s pool.
The day was sunny with a warm breeze. Other walkers were enjoying the day. The fishermen were patient. The boaters were in full colors.
Happy Independence Day.
Where will they hide, the feral cats?
Cranes have ancient places to migrate to
With years added to years one thinks
Of these things like pointed pursuits.
One idea takes hold of another idea
Like rising pitch of a siren hurrying to a destination
Cranes know where to go
And where to return.
Dreams can be deep in the subconscious
Will functional imaging know?
Subconscious messages wanting explanations
Who will quote them?
Somewhere new light is emerging
The eagerness is hard to stop
Shortening years do not dwell on losses
Not in darkness but in new striving.
Life is to be mastered and celebrated
Life can be full to the end.
Can I see it or feel it?
Above simplicity?
I walk to the river
The part of the world opens
Other walkers walk alone
Or with their dogs or with other walkers
Nature greets us in songs and colorful displays
Do we need measurements
And ask : Will experience be sublime?
Under a tree
A young boy returning from a walk to the river
Stops under a tree, glances at its little shade
Pulls from one of his pockets an orange
Starts peeling, dropping the peelings on the ground
Cuts a slice and puts it in his mouth.
Smiles, then resumes his walk.
I continue my walk towards the river.
Accumulation of solitudes, tumult of the heart diminishes
until it’s just a whisper, light as a leaf
You have been longing
to know your real self
During your walk
or when alone in the river
You feel your deep affinity with nature
with other creatures
Alone with the blue heron
or with other traveler
Pandemic awakens your consciousness,
shakens by injustice.
Beware when all the running stops
numbness sets in and silence.
Out of weariness and withered trees
love will rise.
We talked for hours
We compared our separate memories:
notebooks, cupcakes, candlelight dinners
Coming out at night after we ran out of dreams
Our arms were still empty
and waiting
like two anglers standing on a river bank
reviewing the science of angling,
studying the river landscape
Where are the insects?
the shadows, the deep hiding places
silence of pride and pleasure.
Imagine if life is timeless.
They pause for lunch.
Do the fish miss also the fisherman?
edgarone2