Outside in the moisture of the cool morning, up before birds let out their first call, I watch a new day begin, outlining trees and rooftops in shades of blue ink.
Scattered raindrops, remnants of a night downpour, plop absentmindedly on flagstones, missing puddles.
My coffee gets cold fast.
But it doesn’t matter.
Inside is warm but silent, dry, lifeless.
Inside is still a mausoleum of sorts.
With each passing day, the house breathes less, its lungs frozen in the still air, among reminders and mementos of someone else’s long life of labor and adventures.
Life is outside where the air moves and touches in cool feathered fingers; where finches and wee birds converse, sing their news, share their dreams in tandem while I eavesdrop.
Outside I partake of life’s abundance of greens, of earthy scents, of delicate hints of aromas that travel past me on their way to elsewhere.
Outside, I find optimism and peace as I watch the day settle in with infinite precision and attention.
Colors wake up.
They find their place and purpose in lines and curves as the world resumes the identity of the day before.
Balance may always elude me as my mind and heart drift among clouds or get caught in webby mazes, but it is still outside that I feel less broken, more potent, and almost perfect like the scarred olive tree whose story is written in nubby missing parts, whose unheeded fruits stain the ground.
But he doesn’t care and doesn’t keep score.
“whose story is written in nubby missing parts…”
There it is: perfection.
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Thank you John, I’ll take a bow. 😉
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Applause. Roses. More applause… and Curtain!
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“Life is outside where the air moves and touches in cool feathered fingers; where finches and wee birds converse, sing their news, share their dreams in tandem while I eavesdrop.”
Gorgeous!!!
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Thank you Roxi. I think we share a love of and fascination with those winged creatures, don’t we?
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We sure do! 😉
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I find this quite beautiful. In my next life, I will want to write poetry
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Oh don’t wait till then Noel! It’s just another way of seeing… and grabbing life by the throat. I think Robert Frost said that, but I am not sure.
I am glad you found this piece beautiful. I did my job for the day, then. 🙂
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I must say you are always successful. If there is any failure, it is on my part and I blame my literature teacher for making poetry seem such a difficult subject that to appreciate and understand what the poet is saying becomes a science so to speak.
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Le grand dehors
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J’y suis, j’y reste! C’est la que je respire, que je m’evade, que je survis.
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Je t’envie 🙂
J’aimerais ressentir plus souvent les etincelles aux tripes quand je suis dehors… mais au moins 6 mois dans l’annee ici la touffeur, la chaleur m’assomme. Heureusement nous allons enfin avoir 3-4 mois d’une temperature vivable ici.
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Il y a personne qui decrit le monde naturel comme toi.
UnElephant est la avec toi, il entend les ‘wee birds’, il sent les aromes, il trouve la paix.
Merveilleux.
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Merci pour ton soutien sans defaillance.
Tu fais partie de ce monde que je decris, celui qui m’emerveille.
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Love it.. At least there are no bugs there ;-0
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Actually, this year we have had a lot of flies and… mosquitoes! Pesky beasts!
Thank you Suz. Hugs
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