A Toast

Here’s a toast

to life and living

to love and laughter

to seeing, to hearing

to giving and receiving

Lift a glass

to family and friends

to acceptance and belonging

to gifts, to talents

to harmony and understanding

Cheers! and Hear, Hear!

for joy and happiness

for peace and inspiration

for creativity, for passion

for positivity and optimism

This toast we raise

while counting out the frailties of our years

while listening to the music of the spheres

while measuring the value of our tears

while facing down the spectres of our fears

Here’s to us, to all of us,

the scattered and the gathered

family of creation

and to the persistent checkers

of our past, present, and future

Follow the Wandering Clock

The world

is both

topsy and turvy;

spinning in every direction

at once.

We cannot tell

if we are

clock- or counterclock-

wise,

but it sure feels

like all the clock

has been spun

dry

and all the wise

has been abandoned

and all we are left with

is loose change

on the counter.

Yes,

change is loose

and

there may not be

enough cope

left in our mechanisms.

The shock

has bid farewell to

the awe.

The doctors

may have the final spin

in the worldwide

wheel of forsakenness.

Inevitable

the sad repeating refrain

of our dull haiku.

In This Moment

Our lives are sliced thin

moment by moment

memorable or not

some are wild and bombastic

some are calm and serene

many moments are mundane

others are life-changing

there will be celebrations

and there will be long stretches of routine

but

every moment counts

it all adds up to who you are

you are

a walking collection of moments

a human museum of experiences

you are

a concert hall filled with stirring strains

a theater echoing with laughter

a library of autobiographical anecdotes

you are

still under construction

but you have a design

and a destiny

and the stacks of moments

the slices of life

that are you

will just keep building

and who you are

in this moment

counts the most.