Enlightenment - March 16 2024

 

Enlightenment

March 16 2024

The puppy

has lived through all 4 seasons.

So by now, she’s seen it all.

I watched, as the months progressed

how she simply accepted

the weather as it was:

her serene indifference

was truly masterful.

I’d see her head out every day

and go about her business

without a care

question

complaint,

despite how cold, wet, inclement it was.

Undressed

and barefoot, of course;

a wild animal

out in the elements,

superbly adapted

to the real world.

Although I admit

snow was an adventure.

At first, she stopped cold;

perhaps, at the risk of projecting my own

human sensibility

taking in the wonder.

Or, as a wary puppy does

mulling the white stuff

before taking a chance.

Then porpoising through the drifts,

rolling and diving

and snapping at flakes;

her pure joy

putting me to shame,

jaded

by winter after winter.

How could they possibly say

animals don’t play

for fun alone?

As someone who over-thinks

I try to be stoical.

But she has no need

of human philosophy,

and I can only envy

her Zen-like acceptance.

I’m not sure what she remembers,

whether she plans,

has any sense of a future.

But I do know

she is fully in the moment,

exquisitely present

no matter what.

I could spend my life

seeking enlightenment

and never get nearly so close.