If you tell me miracles do not happen
I will not contradict you.
I cannot point to precise amounts of money
showing up in time
to save the curly-headed ingenue lashed to the tracks
from the fiery vengeance
of a foul-breathed dragon.
I do not believe
in spontaneous healing
or insta-overhauls
and I am pretty sure
that if Jesus showed up again today
it would not be
on a waffle.
But if you ask me about magic,
well, then,
I am all in.
Not cruise-ship illusions
or witchy incantations
but real, homemade magic.
Time, for instance,
imbued with tincture of patience,
okay, oceans of patience,
Time works wonders
more amazing
than that big wall in China
and a couple of pyramids
put together.
Laughter, obviously.
Like a light switch,
that laughter.
And let me tell you:
if you have not stood
on the razor's edge
between dark and light
and had the perfectly-timed,
impeccably-turned line
flick you nimbly from one side
to the other
while you weren't even thinking,
much less looking,
and felt the tears that soaked your heart
suddenly pouring down both sides of your face
with laughter,
well, then, brother,
I submit
you have yet to live.
And love,
Well, where do we start
when it comes to love?
Love is a magnet
and a builder of bridges.
Love keeps feet
on the ground
and launches otherwise logical heads
into the stratosphere.
Love can stitch two hearts together
patiently, bit by bit,
over sixty-five highly improbable years
and krazy-glue others together
so swiftly
and permanently
that the word "excruciating"
works equally well
to describe the coming together
or the pulling apart.
Love is making something possible
somewhere
right this very second
and third
and so forth.
Love is so amazing
and enthralling
and uplifting
and empowering
I would live in love all the time
if it didn't scare the shit out of me.
It takes muscles
to live in love
not just a heart of fire
and a head for poetry.
But I will get there.
Just you wait.
Until then,
I practice.
I exercise.
I make what joy I can,
and take what time I am able to
without tripping over my own two feet
like the jackass I am.
May this day
and every other
bring a little more magic.
May I make a moment indelible
by standing still in it.
May you heal or be healed
by some flavor of joy.
And may we both do one tiny, terrifying thing
that nudges us gently
back to the love
we have been standing in
all along.
xxx
c
Image by comingstobrazil via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.