Being Present
by Odin Roark

At times
How haunting the past
Regret’s stubborn grip holding firm
The heat and scarring
Of residual afterburn
Meant only to serve yesterday’s reality
Remaining like inner-space junk
Continually in orbit

Why do we not jettison this mindscape refuse
Where once honest engines of passion
Launched efforts to reach beyond
Only to become remnants of misfires?

So reluctant we remain unwilling
To accept our overflowing teardrops
This always-available cleansing companion
Coping’s empathetic flow of consciousness
Trying to remind both heart and mind
Awareness of the dark
Begets well the discovery
Of light’s beneficence

Is it possible
The message asks not
The ignoring of past
Or dependence on future
But the cherishing of today?

Could the gravity of what once was
Be confining the enlightening nature of what is
Or blinding one’s sense of the present
Because of imagining what might be ahead?

To close one’s eyes
Listen to one’s breathing
Embrace the now of life
Is to know a weightless euphoria

Such is man’s cosmic gift
This undeniable sentient perception
Able to warrant the past
Consider dreams of tomorrow
And embrace the now
Knowing well the rewards
Of being present