Pried apart these pieces.

So many, scattered and shaken.

Blowing away in the first big storm.

The strain of the sun until the
glow of the moon.

I still stare up.

The silence rolls to the noise. Steady,
swerving, straight ahead, sideways.

We ride along bumpy roads going
nowhere.

These tunes sound familiar but
never sung before. These stories seem strangely told but we’re telling them for
the first time. These colors—there are so many and yet I’m a color-blind soul.

Sigh when you’re alone and save the
breaths for the moments.

See the stars and count them all
until the morning comes.

Find the place in the backyard
where the grass is wet and there are no familiar footprints.

Just be still.

Take it all in with open hands.

Let me see those palms. Keep them
flat. Keep them straight. Keep them bowed.

The world watches but then
disappears the next second. The wind captures us running as fast as we can,
then sucks us apart.

Time. To be still. To run ragged.

Time. To want more. To fear more.

Time.

Keep the hands open and the heart
still.

Keep the eyes up and the knees
down.

Keep dreaming.

It’ll keep. No matter the time. No
matter the date.

They’re all numbers spiraling skyward
like pockets of clouds. Passing you by. Fading away. Drifting on.

But you’re still here.

You’re still here. And there’s work
to be done. And there’s love to be shown. And there’s life to be lived.

Open hands.

A beating heart.

Here we go.