February 17, 2012

A Friday morning, dark and thick, the promise of rain, some wind moving in the the invisible trees.  The truck that goes out rumbling every morning has just left, and soon the paper will arrive, flung to land more softly than it used to, it's that thin now.  One mockingbird is up early singing quietly, probably in a neighbor's yard.  I am putting off getting ready for school, thinking I will be more awake in just a little while.  It's amazing to me how often you can wake up without actually being awake, to check the time, or suddenly from a dream, or awake for a moment barely aware you are awake.  When it is time to get up, sometimes you are glad to finally do it, sometimes you just want the covers and five more minutes.

An ordinary day . . .

Ordinary Life

Our life is ordinary,

I read in a crumpled paper

abandoned on a bench.

Our life is ordinary,

the philosophers told me.

Ordinary life, ordinary days and cares,

a concert, a conversation,

strolls on the town’s outskirts,

good news, bad—”

but objects and thoughts

were unfinished somehow,

rough drafts.

Houses and trees

desired something more

and in summer green meadows

covered the volcanic planet

like an overcoat tossed upon the ocean.

Black cinemas crave light.

Forests breathe feverishly,

clouds sing softly,

a golden oriole prays for rain.

Ordinary life desires.

Adam Zagajewski

(Translated by Clare Cavanagh

There is always something to be desired, five more minutes, a new book, sunshine, the list goes one.  That mockingbird probably wants one new song, the rain just wants to escape the clouds, my students want no assignment for the weekend <smile>.  We all desire something, that's one of the marks of living, the cravings, and the breath. and even the prayers.  When I begin to get ready, I will want to be on time, to leave the house, and arrive in time to set out art supplies, and watch those girls create something from their own lives to share with each other.  It's an experience I desire, wanting to know what young people think of the world, what they experience, what they wonder about.  Sometimes I discover they wonder about the same things adults do, and sometimes . . . they have their own wonders <smile>!

Hope today you have something wonderful to share, or something ordinary, either way it's what life wants, something to desire.