Better Days

Some would look at me and say, 

“He’s seen better days.”

That might be true, but I would counter

by saying, “Today was a very good day.”

And, “I will see even better ones in the 

future.” For though my body and my mind

have absorbed much punishment, my 

soul has continued to rise, just as

a tree that is tested by heavy winds

and lightning strikes, whose bark gets

twisted and warped over time, continues

to rise. Better days? Perhaps. But this

has been a fine day. I have recognized

beauty as more precious than I ever 

have recognized it before. That, to me,

is a wonderful success. I have never

been closer to God. I have never known

myself more closely, I have never loved

myself more deeply, even as my eyes

have never been so faded, and so

wide-open in all my life.

Words Like Leaves

Words are like leaves falling in Autumn

slowly upon the air, turning and dipping

gracefully on their curves and edges,

somewhat buoyant but falling, falling nonetheless.

Like the trees, we shed these words that

have grown too heavy. Sometimes they

have already lost their meaning by the time

they fall—just cumbersome detritus that must 

be expressed so that we, as trees, might live. 

But sometimes, they are filled with a colorful 

magic that expresses the living soul, that reach 

the ground alive and sparkling. These are the leaves 

which children gather, that lined up one by 

one upon the grass make a poem.

Words like leaves in Autumn fall, and these truths

we speak get tossed around by the breeze. 

You can watch them dance around you

and gather the ones you find most beautiful,

to ponder on later as you sit and simply breathe.