babaruss
10-17-2008, 10:40 PM
<CENTER><CENTER>I awaken again in an all too familiar pain, unable to move.</CENTER><CENTER>Waiting patiently for pain to subside, and in other places for</CENTER><CENTER>feeling to return. My body feels like it was filled glue, which </CENTER><CENTER>set up during the night. With each cautious movement,</CENTER><CENTER>another piece seems to break free, and I am able to put my</CENTER><CENTER>feet on the floor. Standing is awkward in the morning and I'm</CENTER><CENTER>guaranteed to stumble each, and every time I try.</CENTER><CENTER>Grabbing onto the post I push off, and lurch towards the couch.</CENTER><CENTER>Sandals are the easiest to wear, and I put them on, and head</CENTER><CENTER>for the porch, and just in time.</CENTER><CENTER>An Osprey glides low, silently over our little yard. And for a </CENTER><CENTER>moment blots out the patch of sky between the porch, and the</CENTER><CENTER>loquat tree.</CENTER><CENTER>Following the contour of the hill, she heads in the direction</CENTER><CENTER>of the river backwaters, beyond, and below.</CENTER><CENTER>A high scream breaks the morning’s peace, coming from the tree</CENTER><CENTER>she had just left.</CENTER><CENTER>A young osprey shrieking in objection to being left behind. </CENTER><CENTER>I spot him high in a fir tree moving unhappily from limb to limb</CENTER><CENTER>unsure of what to do.</CENTER><CENTER>Mother’s call shatters the air, baby responds quickly, moving </CENTER><CENTER>awkwardly to the end of the branch, and plunges suddenly</CENTER><CENTER>off into space, following his mothers path, and out of my sight.</CENTER><CENTER>Two minutes have passed and my morning lesson is complete.</CENTER><CENTER>My body is unsticking...and so is my mind...mother nature leads</CENTER><CENTER>the way. Leading me, like the osprey’s young, to serenity, and food</CENTER><CENTER>for my soul. </CENTER><CENTER>I return inside where there is breakfast to cook, dogs to feed, a</CENTER><CENTER>paper to read.</CENTER><CENTER>Email from Sri Lanka, (an AIDS Foundation requesting</CENTER>help), and <CENTER>I am amazed to learn that I can.</CENTER><CENTER>A letter from the Azores describing the recent earthquake...a friend </CENTER><CENTER>reassuring me she is well.</CENTER><CENTER>A buddy in Chicago encouraging me. A man without his dog touching me. </CENTER><CENTER>The phone rings, a dying friend calls to ask how I AM.</CENTER><CENTER>All of this tells me clearly that; I wasn’t left out on a limb, as I had</CENTER><CENTER>once thought. I have work to do of another kind, loving, living, and</CENTER><CENTER>learning what it all means to be human.</CENTER><CENTER>And all it took was that risk...that shaky leap in faith out into space,</CENTER><CENTER>trusting I’m meant to soar and not to come crashing down.</CENTER></CENTER>