what am I missing?
The speaker points out
that we don’t really have
much of a grasp of things,
not only the big things,
the important questions,
but the small everyday
things.
“How many steps up to your back yard?
What is the name of your district representative?
What did you have for breakfast?
What is your wife’s shoe size?
Can you tell me the color of your sweetheart’s eyes?
Do you remember where you parked the car?”
The evidence is overwhelming.
Most of us never truly experience life.
“We drift through life in daydream,
missing the true richness and joy that life has to offer.”
When the speaker has finished we gather around to sing a few inspirational songs.
You and I stand at the back of the group and hum along
since we have forgotten most of the words.
😜
The Speaker by Louis Jenkins
Mary Oliver reminds me
to let go of any need that might linger in me
to, even try, to impress anyone.
But to stay alert to the extravagant impressiveness around me,
puddling at my feet,
drowning my life with goodness.
To be easily astonished,
easily filled with wonder,
to let life boggle my mind.
To stay a child of joy and nature,
a collector of miracles.
To stay in awe of sunsets
and dandelions,
coffee shops
and grasshoppers.
To gasp every time I get a view of the ocean,
to be breathless at the view from a mountaintop road at sunset.
To feel wonder when I see a leaf change color.
To crane my neck, every single time, to catch a glimpse of sunlight on water,
to thrill everytime I touch the curve of a babies cheek.
To get a chill of macabre delight
at gnarly, old toenails,
and bats hanging upside down
in a dark damp cave,
or flying around a street light as darkness falls slowly through the air.
Such things keep me alive.
These are the true riches of our living.
Extreme miracles everywhere around us.
We are here to witness,
here to share descriptions of such beauty,
even our feeble attempts are so amazing
they boggle the mind.
Thank you, Mary Oliver, for this reminder,
with your every beautiful, glorious word.
We are each here to do our part,
to record our miracles
in our own voices,
pens,
paints,
dances,
lyrics,
artistry,
we make up this tapestry,
we record the blazing glory,
the divine masterpiece.
We each add notes to the grand symphony,
allowing the rocks to stay silent –
at least for those who
don’t care to listen for the exquisite, out-of-this-world music they share –
we play on through each day
with such brilliance, light and passion,
savoring delight,
everywhere we go…
until we are gone,
and those who come behind us
find it all fresh and new once more,
and begin to tell their part of the story,
in their own beautiful, unique ways.
💞
AL
life: acoustic & amplified 