BREAKING
It’s what happens when you see it,
when you know it’s all free as God.
One day it’s all duty,
but the rope breaks,
or a bell rings far away.
You see someone else
doing the thing you could not do
and all the stars come out
and your closet door
blows open wide.
And now what do you expect?
Nothing. Nothing, at last.
Perhaps sunrise.
When you drop a cup, it will fall.
You will not glance off Earth,
go careening into the dark.
But the rest, not a thing:
consistency least of all.
Even what you will do tomorrow.
Sunrise, yes, yes,
but the color of the clouds,
the way the wind moves which new leaf,
where the sparrow sings,
the pattern of the towhee’s scratch.
What treasure will disclose.
How many orange tulips,
and asparagus from each deep root.
published in Ruah, 2005
