Life and…

Life and…

Venturing outside
from my inner dwelling,
I was greeted by Life.

Together, we walked 
shoulder to shoulder.

Alright, I confess,
we held hands.

Quietly, we traversed
mile after mile.

Life began ‘projecting’ scenes.
Before my eyes,
a rolling film played itself
—slides, before my time,
flashed in rapid succession.

I looked deeply into many faces
—there were horrific times
—devastation
—no words ‘fit’ to diagram
     for they ran on, and on, and on.

No sentence structure
could piece together
paragraphs, chapters of inhumanity,
natural disasters, chaos.

Yet, Life nudged my hand,
and I picked up a pen, this pen.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Life stepped with me
over mountain tops
dazzled with pristine snow.
We skipped through valleys
with colorful wild flowers
stopping their sway to stare.

Life took me to the water’s edge
and, letting go of my hand,
united me with another—Death.

I gasped, I cried.
I knew this ‘sting.’
I dropped to my knees.

Death seemed to hold me, yes,
almost lovingly.
Death stayed at my side
and wept with me
as the tide rolled itself in.

I did not move~~~

Sand slipped its way alongside
my body wrapping me like a blanket
—it was so difficult to be comforted.

The film I had been watching…
I whispered, ‘cut!’

What was before me was NOW.
How long I was held on this shore
I know not.
The tide was out.

Death brought me back to Life.
The three of us rose.

I’m ‘inside’ again
with this pen and paper.

Though at a “loss for words,”
I continue creating
because the picture now playing 
IS my Life

and I’m living with so ‘many’
in these unknown times.

I still know how to laugh.
I embrace the depth of my tears.
Fear is a friend, anger causes me to
reach out more and more.
I touch, and am touched, even 
from a distance.

Life is in ‘these’ words.
Death will come and the ink spilling
from this pen will dry.

NOW…I live
along side you
and, among the many who have become new stars
in the canopy overhead.

Hebrew Prayer…
“Let there be such oneness between us that when one cries the other tastes salt.”