a stumble

I am a camera trying to focus . . .

I come back again and again
to the allure of the moment
and to the opposing allure:
to pull out and away,
to plan, to remember,
and also to shake off the numbing of the moment
that familiarity breeds,
I want to come back again and again to the now
and to be fully present,
to “get” the moment is to know both it
and the context of time and space
within which the present manifests,

and all moves on,

the senses give us now,
the mind gives us before and after,
the heart gives us what matters, and why,

like a camera trying to focus,
I struggle to see where I should give myself,

we pay a price when we stumble with the body,
we pay a price when we stumble with the soul.

by Henry Walker
July 24, ’11