Sometimes

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by David Budbill

Sometimes when day after day we have cloudless blue skies,
warm temperatures, colorful trees and brilliant sun, when
it seems like all this will go on forever,

when I harvest vegetables from the garden all day,
then drink tea and doze in the late afternoon sun,
and in the evening one night make pickled beets
and green tomato chutney, the next red tomato chutney,
and the day after that pick the fruits of my arbor
and make grape jam,

when we walk in the woods every evening over fallen leaves,
through yellow light, when nights are cool, and days warm,

when I am so happy I am afraid I might explode or disappear
or somehow be taken away from all this,

at those times when I feel so happy, so good, so alive, so in love
with the world, with my own sensuous, beautiful life, suddenly

I think about all the suffering and pain in the world, the agony
and dying. I think about all those people being tortured, right now,
in my name. But I still feel happy and good, alive and in love with
the world and with my lucky, guilty, sensuous, beautiful life because,

I know in the next minute or tomorrow all this may be
taken from me, and therefore I've got to say, right now,
what I feel and know and see, I've got to say, right now,
how beautiful and sweet this world can be.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 29, 2009 at 4:12 AM

    Wow! That is so beautiful and sad at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RudeeApril 29, 2009 at 4:52 AM

    It's important to still feel the good when there is so much that's wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Annie CoeApril 29, 2009 at 6:51 AM

    That was so beautiful. Stunning.
    There is an award on my blog for you! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erin DavisApril 29, 2009 at 8:10 AM

    This is just amazing. Made me cry.

    ReplyDelete
  5. JoannaApril 29, 2009 at 8:35 AM

    A wonderful poem. Yeah. We only have this moment.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A human kind of humanApril 29, 2009 at 9:11 AM

    How very beautiful. We take so much for granted and this poem made me realise it again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. dsApril 29, 2009 at 9:18 AM

    This is lovely; we should never take anything for granted. And I've left you something on my blog...no strings...http://thirdstoreywindow.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ricky ShamblesApril 29, 2009 at 1:03 PM

    Thank you for that moment, and all the ones I'll be paying attention to because of it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Deanna Bland Hiott PhD, MSN, RNApril 29, 2009 at 7:46 PM

    Perfect description of our blessings :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. C.M. JacksonApril 29, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    dbso

    you have an amazing talent for finding the best words for us to read. I think this comes from the experience your 'day job' brings. Can't imagine doing what you do, but if I ever needed someone looking over me, I would want to be in your ICU. Blessings and here's hoping that you have a few boring days...:-)

    best c

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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