The Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things in life
vitally restorative that we depend upon
without knowing it to be so. When concerns
tend to hem one in, the result a faltering
ability to cope, a wan weariness overtaking
consciousness; a small, seemingly
insignificant moment has the capacity to
raise spirits, place matters in a more hopeful
perspective, lift the sense of foreboding.

While coping with cruel thrusts of fate
striking from wholly unexpected quarters,
shattering the illusion of immortality
infusing us as a placebo against rational
admission and fears of the future, even a
stranger's wide smile is capable of bringing
balance back to life. Or, perchance, an
encounter with small woodland creatures
with their unaware conceit of their value.

Troubled, confused, demoralized and
forgetful of the ritual of daily doling
peanut treats during quotidian woodland
perambulations, a host of anxiously entitled
dependents rush from tree stump to trunk
bark in a frenzy of disbelief and striking
disappointment that their homage has been
cavalierly overlooked. Worse, that little
stump-tailed familiar truly shaken, makes
my heart sore at his repeated pleas.

I explain, guilt-stricken, that my emotional
state had momentarily deranged my sense
of due proportion, ardently promising this
unforgivable lapse will not be repeated; have
patience for another day will dawn and amend
the oversight. Unheedingly frustrated, in
disbelief he rushed about my feet, entreatingly
expectant and my gloom at failure to please
darkened the day as even the creek wept.

Yet another dawn did break the dark bowl
of the night sky bringing the sun's warmth
and birdsong to alleviate the weight of fear,
ushering toward a succession of new days,
when the imminence of worry blurred and life
once again became sustainable, albeit a trifle
more complicated, but yet no longer quite so
formidably hostile-seeming to survival.

And this time the foray into the forest was
with gifts in hand. The furry creatures claimed
their due and little stump-tail, all forgiving,
approached with confidence renewed. This
time my heart turned from sore to another
state of emotion that sublimely soared.