life: acoustic & amplified

a little help from my friends

 Dragonfly
I love
to see
your shimmering wings

Now I see skinny lizards, skiting through the grass
And darting geckos,
Naked with the vulnerability of rubber bands,
And tiny, twitchy frogs as curious as babies.

I have grown intimate with ants
And carefree with cockroaches.
I hear the whizzing of the dragonfly
Above the whirring of the fan.
I have learned to apprehend mosquitoes,
And sat transfixed while butterflies
With wings more beautiful than peacock damask
Visited my blue bag time and time again.

A whole and complicated order of creation
Imposed itself upon my gaze
While I sat still and drank my coffee
In the garden.

Or rather, I should say,
I opened my eyes and saw it,
Opened my ears and heard it,
Narrowed my field and selected it.
Together we changed me.

Kathy Galloway
Struggles to Love, The Spirituality of the Beatitudes, 1994