May Morning
Thursday, November 10, 2005
A BlessingJust off the Highway to Rochester, Minnesota
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.
-James Wright
On my one day off last week, I walked downtown. It was at 65, sunny, and as "Light and Day" started on my mp3 player, I lost it. I started skipping down the street like a ten year old, and there was no room for cars on the street because my smile took up two lanes. I knew that I appeared insane to anyone witnessing the spectacle, but I couldn't stop and, frankly, didn't want to.
I get that way sometimes. When the weather is nice, and I'm out somewhere by myself, I will literally lose my breath in how happy I suddenly am. It always takes me by surprise, and it is nearly always gone in a moment or two, but the intensity of joy of those moments shocks me every time.
I'm a pretty average kid, and sometimes even a little below average, but I will always know that my superpower is to occasionally have these moments where I know, where I have no doubt at all, that things are perfect and wonderful and almost more brilliant than I can handle. Eat that, Superman.
