each day provides a reminder -
through pain and suffering,
through jaw-dropping beauty -
that it is a gift;
we cannot change the past,
we do not know the future,
we must live here
in the present
how many more mornings
will the songs of the birds
climb out of the darkness;
how many more sunrises
will I watch explode
over the shadowed trees;
how much time do I have left,
not so much
that I can afford to take this -
or any - moment for granted;
appreciate the present
there are no heights
to which we rise,
no depths
for us to sink to;
there is the middle plane,
where everything is
what it is:
the past has gone by -
impossible to change -
the future is unknown -
waiting to be lived -
we are here,
we are now,
this present
is perfect
