In the deserted hospital lobby

A dad asleep with a tv in his lap

His boys leaning in on him

from both sides, watching.

The bloom is off the branches

As life explodes from every corner of our consciousness,

A moment, please,

For the petals of blossoms 

Dropping from the trees.

I myself might not have noticed

Were it not for the antique truck on someone's lawn 

Which I drive by every day -- twice

-- undertaking that part of life you might call routine 

Never noticed it's been parked

under an apple tree this whole time

Struck anew by the sight of it

dusted perfectly with the petals 

of those sweet and fleeting blossoms.

What does it take to cut through 

the trance of living

To feel the life force moving 

Always moving

Today it is a delivery truck from the 1920s

With news for the world

Sitting still in the awesome light of the morning 

A storied and stately bier 

Serenely bearing its diaphanous cargo,

mottled pink/white,

An exquisite garment

without a body

to cover

Long May day's run

Young man

Lying in your mother's arms

You've squeezed two days of living out of this one 

And I've been lucky enough to bear witness to it

The light that took forever to die 

made you feel like you could live

really live 

Forever 

And when you hit your limit 

and the ugliness emerged, an octave higher,

you fought stillness like a delusional sea captain 

like a mean drunk Don Knotts

But eventually you met it, horizontally,

other half of half eaten burg in hand 

And I explained to you 

'Son, you know when the day is coming to an end...'

'It comes back again?' You asked.

'Well,' I said, 'every day is a brand new day, every day we get a new day,
But the day before

Has gone away

For good 

And can never come back

'And so, 

when we are saying goodbye to the day that is ending, but we haven't yet seen

the new day

We can feel sad,

And that is an ok feeling, it's ok to feel that way,'

And before I can tell you it's a gift from God, the whole thing, the full day, the sadness of the end and the innocence and glory of the new day to come, you say,

'All wight, all wight, I'm tiooowd.'

In your mother's arms you experience the joy of goodbye to the day you lived all the way,

Not a moment gone to waste.