Keeping Watch

I haven’t had my human put a note out for a while. I do believe it’s time. One might think that all I do is sleep, and yes I make certain to do get my rest. However, there are squirrels and birds on the other side of the glass. It was a bit too cool to get outside today - and I do hate that harness that my human puts on me. She does seem to think it’s important, so I put up with it. I can keep watch for the outside life that I desperately miss, but I do like my cozy home. It’s always a toss up. I’m writing this in the evening. Now, I’ll just patiently wait for my supper - only minutes away!

“Cats don’t like change without their consent.”

~ Roger A. Caras, author and wildlife photographer 

In This Moment

Today I noticed 

blood pulsing  

from my heart to my toes, 

feeding my lungs, 

all the organs of my body, 

my brain and through all 

my muscles small and large. 

A reminder, 

sitting still or walking

sleep or awake that 

in this moment, 

this life is good.

“You notice. And noticing, you live.”

~ John Graves, writer

(1920 ~ 2013)

Follow Your Star

North of the North Star ~ a

direction onward over the top 

of the world to the stars of the 

south where the east and west 

remain constant companions 

while the journey goes. 

In these four directions 

treasures and lean times grow, 

there are joys and there are sorrows. 

And yet they each remain true ~ 

those Stars of all directions. Each 

our choice to follow one or all.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, 

but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

~ Vincent van Gogh, artist

(1853 ~ 1890)

A Gift of Age

Over the years, life has been shaped 

     and reshaped always 

with an ember of belief in myself. 

Although this ember so cooled 

      with life’s vagaries, 

it never became a blackened wick. 

Only when gently sheltered and, 

  with my soul’s breath, 

did it give birth to a tiny flame.

“No one’s ever completely broken. It’s just a matter of how much 

has to fall apart before the ember of life is exposed to air.”

~ Charles Eisenstein, author

Where Conversation Begins

Interested parties notice 

the world around them

show their passion 

in word and deed 

they follow their curiosities 

an odd use of time for those who chase curiosities in another direction. ~ 

Over coffee and cake, 

they share lively conversation.

“The most fruitful and natural exercise for 

our mind is, in my opinion, conversation.”

~ Michel de Montaigne,  The Essays: A Selection

(1532 ~ 1592)

Without Definition

Trust is without definition. 

It is the colour of water 

   in its vastness, 

iron grey ~

  troubled by rain clouds or 

clear blue ~ reflecting 

   sun and moving cloud, 

shades of green ~

   at the shoreline where trees 

  bend to caress the water,

~ or capped by lacy froth 

       on a windy day.

Our only definition grows 

  from the details of our lives

lessons from those we grew up with until 

  our own definition blossoms 

a definition that is confident and sure.

But trust remains without definition and 

  yet with a form we feel in our gut.

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. 

When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, 

because if you do you will sink and drown. 

Instead you relax, and float.”

~ Alan Wilson Watts, British philosopher

(1915 - 1973)

Dreams I Hold Dear

Cared about, I still felt lost, then

I looked to my feet. I knew that 

only I could direct them

 where and when I would go

in this day and time of mine.

My wandering mind took me to 

places filled with shining promise 

  along with stories I told myself 

until I shaded in colours of reality, 

mixed with dreams I hold dear.

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on, 

and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

~ William Shakespeare,  The Tempest