It Took Me Too Long to Be Alive

After the second glass I understood (Or maybe the third)

Around the second glass I understood
(Or it might have been the third)
The sun flickering behind streaking clouds
One second brilliant rays bending toward me,
the next moment subdued light
of an ending day

The tallest trees on mountain edge
swayed in the cool spring winds
Breezes down lower
whispering in the branches
Rustling songs
of early summer calling to me

We sat side by side,
as we have for twenty years
No words needed
Hand in hand
Just here
Now
Mesmerized by the dance of life
going on around us

A cardinal sang
his last call at dusk
Turkeys deep in the brush
cackling softly as they found their
high branches for the night
Already dark in the deepest
of the forest floor

It took me too long
to be alive
Too many years
to understand this moment
Wherever I was,
always lost to where I could be
My mind drifting
to meaningless dreams
of anywhere, but here
Never smart enough to stop
To breathe
To understand now
is all there is

The secret to life… to live
Now
In this moment that is you
Open to the world as it is
Your mind empty
of the nonsense
taking you away
from savoring all
you experience
in this fleeting touch
of your life

I sipped on the wine
A toast to that last burst of light
wrapping us in golden warmth
My eyes wide open to what is
Finally alive in my own life

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