Back to Basics ~ 1

Getting back to basics means
a long walk on a summer’s day,
smiling at young boys practicing baseball,
coach leading the team through the basics,
team mates calling out plays to each other

Getting back to basics means
stopping and smiling to watch
while a very young man - three or four years old - 
stands at water’s edge watching the ducks
hands in his pockets, his fedora on straight.

Getting back to basics means
watching turtles and ducks sunning themselves
lined up on a log on Goodacre Lake
while flowering water lilies spread their beauty,
herons nest high in the trees with their babies

Getting back to basics means
stopping for iced macchiato and writing,
walking along the David Foster Harbour Parkway
passing by Fisherman’s Wharf to the Inner Harbour
stopping for lunch at the Steamship Grill and Taphouse

Getting back to basics means
renewed awareness of what there has been
everything that could have been
and all that is right in front of your eyes, ears and nose.
ruffling any flatness of mood in the summer breeze.

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.”

~ Abraham Lincoln