WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

CLEAN

            As I begin writing, at 4:38 a.m., it is wonderful to know that each and every moment today will be utterly clean. I like to help Delycia keep our small home as clean as possible, but the good news is that I don’t have to do any work to keep the moments of this day clean. Each new moment will arrive absolutely scrubbed and spotless. If I imagine our living room as perfectly pristine, freshly painted and dusted and vacuumed, that’s what today will be like – a brand-new, beautiful, and boundless ‘living room’  presented in all its perfection, again and again and again. The hours will all be fresh and polished, as unblemished as a sunrise, even though I may sometimes (often?) be utterly unaware of their loveliness. It will be like living in an immaculate kingdom, moment after moment – a vast empire of  refreshing newness. I won’t have to be constantly dusting and polishing life today, for it will always be pure and untainted, a spotless present given by the universe to the universe, including me. 

“WHAT KEEPS THIS TOWN CLEAN?”

That’s easy. 
Trees sweep their own air 
with leaves,
winds can wipe yesterday away, 
and one song of a bird
will brighten a whole hour. 
And thoughts –
good ones –
can turn the town 
upside down 
with optimism,
can polish an afternoon
before your eyes.  

Our chalkboard poem for yesterday …