Common Ground

 

I do not know your music tastes,

I do not know your friends.

Both you and I are short of space,

in between continents.

And you and I are being ground down

by the acts of governments.

We don't share any talking points

but likely the same ends. 

I know you, brother, even though

your language is not mine,

your home location is on a

different meridian line.

And nowhere do our orbits touch,

nowhere our lives combine,

yet they're exactly parallel,

yet they somehow align.

I know that resolve in your eyes,

that tremor in your hands

as the ground beneath us buckles

throughout our separate lands.

I know that grimness on your lips

as you rise to take a stand -

I may not know your music tastes

but the rest I understand. 

This one is for those who carry on, who don't get discouraged, who fight for a braver, better, more equal, more just and a peaceful world.

I hope the coming week will be better than the past one for all of us. Have a good one. 

Bookmarks

 

You used to remember the exact page,

now you find yourself reaching for bookmarks

and put it down to incipient age –

the wrists a bit stiff, the spines a bit dark,

the sense somehow vague, the words somewhat blurred,

and following the plot requiring more work,

the pristine white of leaves somewhat more weathered.

 

The eyes and the wrists instinctively know

where and when to rest, where and how to stop,

what to hold steadfast and what to let go,

which ones to explore and which to just drop.

The flesh isn’t weak – it can push its limits

but it’s just plain wise, it knows to give up,

to withdraw, shut down and blindly submit.

It isn't really about bookmarks now, is it? 

It's to do with not faffing around. It's about consciously choosing the growth path of the patience quotient. Becoming patient with stuff that matters but ruthlessly uncompromising with how the minutes, even the seconds are used. Zero waste. Tomorrow is not a given, it never was, only you were having too much fun to notice. And ignorance may be bliss but it is still ignorance and it certainly ends up being wasteful. Time's limited, space is too, you are more than halfway, oh, much more than that, to using up your quotas.  

Those few seconds you've just spent in locating the exact para where you left off? Nope, they are not coming back. Therefore, no harm in being lean and mean with how the balance is spent. A little more mindfulness in cutting to the chase and cramming in as much ___ (love, food, fun, laughter, hiking, skydiving, reading, blogging, partying, catching up with friends, etc. - insert as appropriate) as possible while you're at it. If bookmarks can help with that...bring them on!

Have a lovely week ahead.