LOSING and FINDING

WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Thursday, September 1, 2022

         After losing my keys yesterday and then finding them fairly quickly, I started thinking about how frequently I find things – sometimes surprising things in surprising places. I once found a dozen silver dollars on an old blanket on the beach. There they sat, bright and unblemished in the sunlight, with scarcely a person to be seen anywhere, as if the sand was doing sentry duty for someone. I stared at them for a moment and then moved on, feeling lucky to have found them and then left them there. Likewise, I feel lucky, when I’m writing, to almost always find useful and sometimes startling words awaiting me in my computer’s thesaurus. It’s as though thousands upon thousands of words are standing by to bring stylishness to my writing, poised to present themselves inside my sentences with their glow and gracefulness. I’ve sometimes found a word that, by itself, instantly added finesse to an otherwise plain paragraph. It’s true for thoughts, too, for they can be found in unforeseen ways and places, as though they are hidden riches that ascend to the surface occasionally. For no reason that I can understand, thoughts unceasingly arise inside me, some with an enticing shine, and, to my satisfaction, I get to sort through them and select the brightest and best for my writing. It’s like finding diamonds day after day, which has been a pleasing project in these adventuresome and discovery-laden retirement years.   

LOSING HER FEARS
(about Braelynn J., 52, Blessings, CT)

She’s always losing her fears, 
letting them slip away 
when she isn’t watching them. 
Even though some of them seem huge to her, 
they’re harmless little fears,
and they have an easy way of disappearing
while the sun is shining 
or when she’s lost in satisfaction. 
Some days, for sure, she can find no fears anywhere,
search as she might. 
Her long life always seemed made of fears, 
and it confuses her to be bereft of them. 
On those days, 
a soft light of confidence shines everywhere,
especially inside her, 
and she starts to suspect 
that fears are afraid of light.