The Moment
by Odin Roark

Is there a moment?
Have you been waiting all your life
For that moment?

Transcendence knows well
The drip of ice
The fragrance of gardenia
The modulation of Brubeck
The splattering genius of Pollock

How spacious the choice
How reluctant the pursuit
Fear knows even better
Our fending off possibilities

Yet

Somewhere inward
Everyone knows the key
Hesitant perhaps
Who after all
Looks forward to the unknown

But

At some point
When all else fails
When stuff
Glory
Money
Love’s starvation accepted
Senses awaken

Like the moment our child-ness
First touches a rose petal
Only to marvel at the color
The aroma
The horn-stemmed protection
The willingness to embrace
It all

Such is the moment
So remote to most
Beyond cherished innocence
Once owned

For too many

Now thought as consolation prize
For working the system
For surviving the challenge
For unknowingly urging the missteps
That maintained your inherent child