Sitting in stillness
No breath of wind
High heat, dew point, and
Stupor,
I slow, slow down, breathe deeply, I
Sit in the most immense quiet
That I can summon
And then I see imperceptible motion
A tangerine butterfly
Hummingbirds that don’t notice heat
Looking afield, apples on our old trees
Are blushing up,
Some drop and dot the ground,
I hear bird calls
As they swoop and glean
Enveloping gratitude,
For this moment of homeostasis,
Unexpected, tears springing,
For that is surely what this is, a
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
That I’m listening to in these moments
I think to myself
Dad would have the
Glory of this piece wired to this patio
To each peeling porch,
Volume turned up to fill my skies
My wondrous old Dad
Would be sitting with eyes closed
Arms directing each sublime elide,
And its resolution
The way life
My life, our lives
Are lived
One elide into another.
