Poets show us that eventually is a luxury
You Reading This, Be Ready
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?
When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life –
What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
I found this poem waiting for me on one of the blogs I subscribe to, Light-skinned-ed Girl. Seems right for 37days‘ celebration of National Poetry Month.
Now is a great gift. Just ask Lauren Terrazzano, a thirty-nine year old recently told that she has two or three months to live: "’Two to three months,’ the doctor said, almost reluctantly, when I finally posed the question. That’s eight to twelve weeks. Sixty to 90 days. Or 2,160 hours, if you want to get right down to it." As she writes, "eventually" is a luxurious word when you’ve been given that timetable. And not just if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, but for all of us.
What can anyone give you greater than now?
