Entertainment for us comes in all forms
~ a walk in the park on a gentle evening
to flickering characters on a screen,
time travel between the covers of a book
the slap and cheer of hockey or soccer
fingers caressing the octaves of a piano,
or the swirl and twirl of a waltz……
Each of them directing us
out of the dailiness of life
and into joy, release and fun.
“Once a person has all the things they need to live,
everything else is entertainment.”
~ Neal Stephenson, author
Reversal of direction
time to pause
space to breathe
time to refocus
space for renewed energy.
“The greatest pleasure in life is
doing what people say you cannot do.”
~ Walter Bagehot,
journalist, economist and essayist
Intending to follow
the direction of my heart,
I set out without a map.
As a child, instruction from parents
~ and any adult ~
composed a singular map
Adults were all knowledgeable?
An adult for many years,
the truth of what I have known
has been pared, shifted and changed
with many maps needed and used
Lives lived by example
Instructions books
Text books
Advice from family and friends,
Books of all kinds
Noticing nature’s ways of growing
I set out with many maps in my heart.
“Maps are way of organizing wonder.”
~ Peter Steinhart, writer and naturalist
Down the winding path
I followed a rough and
traveled lane never looking
for the far horizon
knowing a near one lead
only as far as my eyes
could see in light or dark.
Told to follow my nose,
follow the money
and learn from the journey
I picked a flower
sat under a tree
watched horsetail clouds
gallop across the sky
but my heart said
there was more to be and
in an instant
I wanted to hurry and find ‘it’
yet the rain sheeted down,
slowed my pace.
This world felt too big for my heart.
To plant the smallest of gardens,
to honour and love the trees,
believe in the beauty of the skies
and create my home as I wished
was the winding path
my heart would follow.
“For every moment of joy Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for everyday of living
This is my Thanksgiving.
~ Don Henley, singer
Down the…….
Intending to……
Reversal of…….
Entertainment for…..
Cared about……
Trust is…..
Interested parties…..
Over the……
North of the……
“The present is the ever-moving shadow that divides
yesterday from tomorrow. In that, lies hope.”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
Cool evening rain-washed air
Wind slowed to a whisper
Gentle remnants of a rainy day.
“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and
the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
~ Sylvia Plath, poet
(1932 ~ 1963)
There is an in-between speed
that has no destination,
no timing,
no when to stop,
when to step on the gas,
a strange and awkward place
where imagination can roam free
to choose a book to read,
a walk to take,
no sense of urgency
until rain pours in violent torrents
when windows must be closed
drains cleared of dried flower petals.
A stop and go time that fills
once more with in-between time.
“Sometimes the space between knowing what to do
and actually doing it is a very short walk.
Other times it is an impossible expanse.”
~ David Levithan, author
