Surprise

WORDS LIKE LIGHT

Tuesday,  January 25, 2022

         A good synonym for the word ‘life’ might be ‘surprise’, because that’s exactly what life is – a constant, astonishing surprise. Of course, only occasionally do I notice this aspect of life, the way each moment softly breaks open with a fresh, first-hand bombshell. Life can sometimes seem tediously predictable, like the ‘same old stuff’ moment after moment after moment, but underneath all the seeming staleness of everyday life there lies a whole universe of unforeseen surprises. In fact, each moment of my life, today and everyday, is a total revelation – a thunderbolt of unconditional novelty. 5:20:07 a.m. – right now as I write – should take my breath away with its newness. Nothing like it has ever existed in the billions of years of the universe – and the same is true for all the moments forever. I should probably always look dumbfounded and dazed, enough to make Delycia say, with concern, ‘Are you okay?’, to which I could respond, ‘Yup. Just totally astonished by the surprises, as usual.’ 

A poem on a similar theme …

And a poem from today …