Update to an Old Maxim

All the mistakes, missteps ~

fall on my face messes 

too often accompanied by 

swathes of guilt and shame. 

You made your bed, 

    you can lie in it. 

guilt and shame dragged, 

getting heavier, harder to 

push down year after year, 

something had to change .

You made your bed, 

    you can change the sheets.

Reminded of my change as I 

changed the sheets on my bed ~

clean and fresh as sleep settles softly.

Blackened feelings washed away.

“The present changes the past. Looking back 

you do not find what you left behind.”

~ Kiran Desai,  The Inheritance of Loss

It Has Come to My Attention........

.....that today is National Love Your Pet Day. I’m not certain how I feel about being included with all pets - or that I’m even considered a ‘pet’. After all who does run this household, with efficiency and proper timing? And only one day! Are we pets just supposed to be tolerated all the rest of the time? Please! We are really just too loveable every day. Oh, that’s right, I’m supposed to be offended to be considered one of the pet continuum. Well, just don’t forget to feed and love me - and all the rest of the pets (even dogs).  

“You cannot share your life with a dog…or a cat, and not know 

perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.”

~ Jane Goodall, 

primatologist & anthropologist

(1934 - 2025)

10 More Minutes

10 more minutes 

while flutes play, 

fingers poised 

over laptop keys 

and still nothing comes 

so I will end this missive

and bid you goodnight.

“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now.”

“Earl Nightingale, author

(1921 ~ 1989)

Find It

Ruffle through 

your day

until you 

find it. 

Find the 

one moment 

when 

the tenor

of the day 

changed.

“find your eternity in each moment.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Somedays

 

Everyday I confront 

the edge of the world 

in this season of ice and snow. 

Somedays it is 

crystal sequins decorating 

trees, eaves, hedges and cars. 

Somedays it is 

thick bumpy ice that 

coats sidewalks and streets. 

Somedays it is 

the warm sun that melts 

and pools snow and ice. 

Somedays it is 

watching swirls of snow, 

frantically waving tree branches. 

Somedays it is 

the ever changing winter sky, 

elegant clouds in a low slung sun

          ———

Most days I stand 

on the other side of that edge 

daring myself into the frigid weather 

Most days, I dare myself to 

stay inside to muddle through 

one more winter day. 

Most days, I am willing 

to stand on that edge and 

give myself time to be.

“I believe in one day and someday and this perfect moment called Now.”

~ Jacqueline Woodson, writer

Today Is

 

Morning light, 

still hidden behind roof tops, 

filtered through thin clouds. 

Conversation and laughter 

filled afternoon hours. 

Fraying fabrics of dullness 

from the morning vanished, 

taken by the rhythm of

conversation and laughter.

Today is and 

will be tomorrow 

but for now 

tonight has given me 

the comfort of my home. 

“But the morning light is only the first line

 in the play of the day—“

~ Billy Collins, The Only Day in Existence

Watcher

I watched them:

The grizzled old man 

with his walker

The young woman ~

big eyes and long dark hair 

The elderly couple 

quietly visiting

I wondered then

Who were they as they grew ~

 ~ toddlers curly hair, 

        cute and busy?

 ~ adolescents ~ beautiful, smooth skin 

        with big dreams?

 ~ young parents just

        beginning family and careers?

My bus stop was just ahead. 

Stepping down from this 

swirl of humanity that must bear 

labels and expectations from others,

I walked into my own life.

“we’re watchers of this world aren’t we? not players”

~ Maggie Stiefvater, (writer)