Who Dad?!

Or this?

Time is Honey Trap

Sometimes sweet

or oh so slow

I imagine there is enough

of everything

Until all suddenly speeds

moments go unsavored

fly by

broadcasting promises of return

Like seeds, dormant,

these forgotten selves, buried,

dreams frozen

in time

Wait

for the rare and right

conditions

urge a sprout towards light

Surprising surface self

who thought the past done

and growth

only a memory

of a future lost

A helicopter flew low overhead and although startled I did not duck for cover. However, some other reflex transported me for an instant to where the safeguards of civilization have been shattered, where women and children flee to line up at borders with no idea where they will sleep, what they will eat, or if they will ever see those left behind again.

Then my attention turned back to the day's small problems and tasks. Normalcy returned left me wondering at our minds' design.

Watching floods, fires, and winds also destroying homes and displacing people, I have read how we are reaching the point of no return for saving life as we know it. Then back to my own to-do list, as if it was what mattered.

That's the mystery: one moment I am convinced we are doomed and the end is near and then my next thought is about some needed home repair, an investment I'd like to make, a vacation still to take, how to get more exercise in a week, and always what else would be good to eat.

I catch myself in such dreams and illusions of personal health and wealth — as if anyone could be better off than the planet so utterly depended upon — and want to turn away, find another way to live each day.

In this life

are all those within shouting distance we've never heard.

One neighbor, seen only now and then, is going through something alone

that might be better with others around.

Was one offer of aid enough?

Certainly, we would respond to a request for help.

Wouldn't we?

Aren't we ones who send money here and there,

volunteer in our community, live simply?

But, we don't suffer long or much for others.

Should we?

Most of my life strategies are about avoiding

stress, conflict, and misery.

Keeping other humans at a safe distance

is part of that equation.

Can a heart be both selfish and caring?

In the early days of the war,

I heard of a homes for refugees program

and how over 100,000 people from the United Kingdom alone,

in less than a day, said yes to taking them in.

Could you?

Sure, there was a payment involved for doing so,

but there was also a price to pay in lost space and privacy

I don't believe myself capable of making.

Might I surprise myself?

I try to imagine the sounds of a foreign language

and feet of different weights moving through

my home, and me smiling, enriched by sharing

such riches as recipes and laughter . . .

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Speaking of dreams, they keep getting stranger and stranger, but the weirdness is spreading to my waking life. It's as if dreams were influencing reality.

This morning, I rode my bike down the same streets as yesterday, saw neighbors following familiar routines. "Good mornings" exchanged. A hawk flew closely overhead.

I stopped at a park, watched and listened for everyday life, found some peace already there, as if waiting to be found.

From a distance, I saw a lone German Shepherd relaxing in the sun.

On my bike, I approached while looking around for an owner, but soon realized this was not a dog but a healthy coyote. Very large with a coat of several shades of reddish brown and silver, it was truly magnificent, even regal, but most curious, unconcerned by my presence.

I slowed, then stopped, took off my sunglasses, and we looked into each other's eyes. I did the talking, but received no reply, no insight. Still, some exchange was taking place. I just didn't understand it.

It felt as if I had been transported to a land of myth where previous notions of how things should be were in upheaval. Was something fundamental changing, some new order emerging from the Source?

Eventually, perhaps tiring of my questions, it trotted off, leaving me wondering what Creation this god-like Trickster might be pondering next.