WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Monday, October 11, 2021

TYPICAL

            Today will be a typical day, and I will be grateful for that. There will be the ordinary displays of love all around me today – the kindness of clouds that bring coolness, the friendship of each moment (if I’m able to see it), the customary, mystical rise and fall of my lungs. All the thousands of moments will unfold with run-of-the-mill magnificence, and newness will do its routine duty again and again and again. Safety will be on display everywhere in its standard ways (though I’ll probably often fail to notice it), and togetherness will show up with its typical reliability –  the intimacy of grass with squirrels, of breezes with trees, of sorrow with happiness, of words with wisdom. It’s par for the course for days to be spectacular, and this one will be classic in that sense – 16 waking hours of absolute miracles. I hope I can stay watchful and enjoy them.  

IN INNATE

In Innate, New Hampshire,
a simple sort of happiness 
seems to be an inherited quality. 
Contentment comes naturally to people here, 
and a gentle joy 
appears to be congenital in everyone. 
People here take pride 
in a very natural feeling of fulfillment
and in a deep-seated delight in life.
Serenity seems almost instinctive, 
as if it’s the only sensible way to live. 
Sure, there’s sometimes disappointment and sorrow here, 
but folks are usually at ease with it,
as if they know it’s an essential part of life 
and can show them fresh horizons.
In this little town, 
love is elemental, 
and having fun is just 
part of the family.  
 

Here are some early autumn scenes from our quiet walk in Elm Grove Cemetery yesterday morning …

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