The Live Wire Problems of the Living

Can Flowers Change Your Life? XVII. April 10, 2016

The mind disturbed seeks its peace,
so I today hope to reconcile and
return to wholeness the storms within
my mind and without it in the breasts
of other people.  The Arctic air descended
when our spring was in full flower.
Is all my fruit destroyed?  I lit the
woodstove, wrapped myself in warm
clothes, drank hot tea, and watch sun
return us to normality and reveal our
losses.  I still do almost everything
I did five years ago, but more slowly.  
I can’t chase a hen who got loose.  
I have to wait until she comes to me.  
I’m not good in a crisis like I once was. 
I need to pull back and calm down.  
I fall asleep fast but worry will wake 
me early and not let me go until I 
write it away.  I wanted to live a long 
life.  I am.  I’ve argued with doctors 
who end up helping me stay away 
from so many medicines, and my basic 
health holds.  I rest more but I do recover.
I have too many gifts and too many 
calls, but I haven’t failed any yet.  
So it’s harder now?  Live and learn.  
I do.  I have.  I will.  In the end I’ll die.  
Then my life can be examined, my foibles
noted, my enemies flouted, my friends 
reassured, my accomplishments praised, 
my presence mourned, but not yet.  I live 
with all the live-wire problems of the 
living, and I still have my chance. 

***

My son Tim a few years ago with hens.