The Time In Between - March 23 2023

The Time In Between

March 23 2023

Only looking back

does it all makes sense.

Or at least

a certain order comes clear;

the stages of a life

that got me here.

Not that I could see it happening

in the tumult of the moment;

the passions

and overcomings,

the busyness

annoyances

and daily mundanity.

How things take shape

only in retrospect.

So the end of winter, beginning of spring

has a gratifying certainty;

happening

in real time

as I sit here and watch.

The earth

turning as it's always done;

its constant rotation

and off-kilter tilt

as it circles the sun.

And the seasons

like reassuring landmarks

when you've lost your way;

mile-markers,

set in stone

and drilled into bedrock

on the side of the road.

And this time in between,

in which I contemplate the past

and consider what's ahead.

Will I look back

and see this as the next stage,

a new beginning

a crucial end?

Who I was

melting away,

My nascent roots

extending themselves,

frozen soil

thawing slowly

in this unaccustomed warmth.

Even if it is as messy

and back and forth

as the season of mud,

spring blizzards,

basement floods.

Or am I locked in

like the frozen ground?

Running on inertia

on my predetermined path,

a solitary planet

around a dying sun?