Kaleidoscopes and Panoramas

 Kaleidoscopes and Panoramas

(“The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert.” Isaiah 35:6)

There is time to start the journey,
there is all the time in the world.
The road trip is not urgent,
the shimmer will still be upon the
snow when we arrive.
The streams will laugh down the backside
of the mountain pass,
the desert will rise like a bear waking from a nap.
We can stop, then walk, then find the tiny things
so far from the road. Once we start
we will
take our time. The east wind will blast our
faces with laughter,
the crows scavenging crevices for bits of
bologna sandwiches or sunflower seeds left
along the path.

We do not need to be intense,
whatever we miss today will still be here
tomorrow.
And whenever we fall behind schedule, we
will call ahead to say we will be late. We are
not tied to time or fate, only the whims of the
dance-like steps that discovery brings.

I was far too focused in the past. Today I prefer
kaleidoscopes and panoramas. Today I prefer
your voice, your hand, your laugh, and your tears.
Today I prefer something more real than songs sung
into empty rafters. Today I prefer to be here tomorrow,
the day after, and the following years. There is abandon
on the road this time, there are rivers who do not obey
the commands of hymns. And so, we will flow, sometimes
not know,
and sometimes not knowing is the best place to stop for
a picnic lunch.