An encounter with one couple at my local park led to a series of thoughts I recorded in this poem.

I heard someone say,
something they might have done
would have been cool.
I thought they were silly,
then chided myself for judging them.

Consider the possibility: that
leading a life in denial or ignorance
is not the same as one lived in simplicity.
Although, it is where some may be
at that time in their life.
I can be ignorant in
my own way, in denial.

To hold both wisdom
and appreciation of simple pleasures
is the goal, is it not?
To become that wise fool
who laughs at themselves
and finds joy in simple things.

To wallow in self-pity over one’s “mere doings,”
is denial of another sort,
of one’s own greatness.

There are no rewards, no acknowledgment,
no accolades nor honors announced for
those who quietly till the soil of their lives,
led seemingly in obscurity.
To acknowledge, then,
to honor one’s own preference to live
outside the spotlight and
take joy in “something cool,”
is to know acceptance, not denial.

We all have our time to shine.
Those who seek to
notice the flower struggling in
the cracks of a sidewalk
may not know they are in that light.
They will only know “how cool” it is, that,
even in such stifled,
confining conditions,
the humblest of us can find
some bit of earth
in which to bloom.