Any other day
could have been filled
with sunshine or raindrops
but today is
not like any other day
even though filled with
the decisions of any other day.
Which mug to fill with tea,
which task to do,
which part of life to live,
which time to be here or there,
which friends and family to enjoy.
Any other day
could have been filled
with sunshine or raindrops
but not the same ones that filled this day.
“Don’t count the days, make the days count.”
~ Muhammad Ali
(1942 ~ 2016)
Dedication to anything is
as a bird in flight
muscles and mind
working in harmony
to get to the nest,
to forage for wants and needs
flying through
rain clouds,
open air,
against hostile winds.
At the end of the day
to rest and sleep
readying for
the next day’s flight.
“Our self-acknowledgement has to be bigger than our fear.”
~ Rod Stryker, author
Otherwise, I would have
let my imagination roll
out a carpet of poetry,
yet the day just lived
didn’t lend itself to such
flights of fancy.
Otherwise, I would have
looked at the raindrops
on green leaves and seen
the mysteries in each
glistening drop of water.
Otherwise, I would have
raised my navy umbrella
to the misty rain that
gently reminded me
of Vancouver Island.
Otherwise, I would have
seen the blackened crust on
my bread as a failure but
the tender inside was delicious,
butter and honey spread thick.
Otherwise, a day will come
when all of these things may
mean nothing to me. For today,
they are the sweet stitches
that hold memories of today.
“I got out of bed on two strong legs.
It might have been otherwise.”
~ Jane Kenyon, Otherwise
*Author’s note: my poetry tonight inspired by
the poem Otherwise by Jane Kenyon
