It is said, “It will last a lifetime!” “How long is that?” I ask. Is it the 97 years my mother-in-law expressed her gratitude’s? Is it the 7 days my daughter graced us with her existence? Maybe the 2 weeks a mosquito became a pest? Or the 24-hour life of a mayfly? Existence—not infinity but arbitrary. A question of quantity or quality? Between the intake of breath to our last expiration, we count days, months, then years; yet truly, they are breaths. In each moment, we live a lifetime, not knowing if we gain one more inhalation, one more moment to love what we see, who we are, whom we touch, the sun kissing our skin, or the colors of a fall tree. We take it all in; we breathe it out. One breath, one breath, one holy precious breath. In memory of my bonus sister Cynthia and my Aunt Pat, who within these last three weeks, each breathed a final breath, leaving a world and loved ones held close to their hearts.
“the tired sunsets and the tired
Charles Bukowski
people –
it takes a lifetime to die and
no time at
all.”
“It’s not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it.”
Seneca
…Enjoy this precious single breath,
Omar Khayyám, Quatrains-Ballades
for the harvest
of our whole lives
is that same one breath.”
For Ongoing Resource List: Reading for Heart and Mind