fully present?

so many slippers

at what age
do we as individuals,
did we as a species,
lose being fully present in the moment?

I sit here,
remembering the highlights of the day, the week,
and anticipating tomorrow: where, how, and who I’ll be,
down the stream two elementary age children
seem lost in a “now” of rocks, water, and each other,









I look at rock and water
and I see mother bear and cub earlier in the day








whom we were lucky enough to see
in a thicket of blackberries and a field next to it,
I see the kids with me then joy in those moments,
amid flowers and field and soft green mountains,
I look again and see myself at a funeral tomorrow,
clicking into connections and feeling the tear
of the loss of a great woman, my aunt,

what a gift we have
to have so many within us,
what a price we pay
for having so many slippers that fit.

by Henry Walker
June 23, ’11