To Pause on the Journey

Every day is a new start,
every year a beginning,
or so we’d like to believe.

A low-angle view of the gray paving stones on a street. The stones are foreshortened vertically, so we see two dozen or so rows of them, each row containing three or four stones. The stones are rough-hewn and of varying shades of gray.

And,
we don’t know, can’t anticipate
where we will go,
what will happen,
what delights await,
what heartbreaks will
tear us open
the paths, unexpected,
that open before us.

Even knowing that, we lean
our lives in particular ways,
focus on particular moments,
incline our attention to what
is in our hearts and lives and hands
to offer.

We know for sure that ours is in the going,
finding what is on the path
and off
in giving and creating what we can.

We come here amidst the
discoveries and delights,
the worries and woes
to find a moment
to connection,
to pause on the journey,
in gratitude and sorrow.

It is good to be together.