Extracting Joy

In the world of sublime appreciation there
is the music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Mozart
whose musical expression we adore. There is the
ineffable beauty that surrounds us in nature:
birdsong, butterflies' flight, the venerable girth
and reach of ancient trees, the blossoming of
flowers, the laughter of children at play, the
antics of a puppy, the ephemeral brightness
of rainbows, the golden early morning sun,
the veil of mist enveloping a placid lake,
the shimmering, shifting Northern Lights.

These and so much infinitely more we have
shared, extracting the joy of being, together,
from shared witness to life and the mutuality
of love so necessary to the pleasures and the
crises of being. We give unstintingly, instinctively
to share need, emotions, pleasures and fear.
Without which we are vastly diminished, pale
vestiges of the vibrancy of love and commitment
to life in all its frantic, undeniable dimensions.