I sat out on the front stoop for a change this afternoon
At the suggestion of a friend
Who may or may not have known she was suggesting.
Nothing happened.
The warm air hovered in the bright breeze
The sun toweled off the moisture from the morning showers
A mother and daughter walked down the street with their black lab
Who was greeted enthusiastically by the shepherds in the priest’s house
Yes, nothing happened
And it had all the smell
And shine
And wonder
Of miracle.
-J McGinty, 3.20.2020
There are many first mornings
You come to learn.
First morning of school
Of Summer
Of a new friendship
Of marriage
Of illness and of recovery.
First light too,
Comes first, and oddly comes again and again across the years.
And a voice says, “Begin here. Here now.
Do not live in the past; that you’ve already done.
Recall it savor it regret it celebrate it,
But do not live in it.
For today is the first day. See the first light of this first morning?
It is unlike any first morning I have made before.
The light plays in ways it has learned in playing first mornings before.
Today I make a new way for you.
Walk in it willingly, I tell you it will
Feed you
Comfort you
Surprise you
Teach you
Change you
Make and break you
Heal you
Kill you
Rebirth you forever.
It all comes from me, so
Trust it
Accept it
Revel in it
From this present into the future
See the first light
Of the first morning, always.
You cannot possess it
Nor can you lose it,
You can allow it to wash
Over you and in you and through you.
Do you not perceive it?
I make all things. Only. New.”
Job’s Pond @ Bethany Cottage
Portland CT
11.4.19
Two canines and one human
Arrive at Job’s Pond at night
For the night. The darkness is deep
The silence, deeper; the house, empty
The water, unseen; the air, cold
The dogs, hungry; the human,
Full of wondering.
