contemplation of a contented life

I’m used to a life answered by silence.
A jagged, narrow path that acknowledges death as part of not opposite to.
Forgetting and remembering that each intricate life is doused by complexity,
No matter how simple it may appear to an outside perceiver.
I am learning that the contented moments I have sought for in eternity,
Are quietly nestled on a couch with tea, a book, and a cigarette,
A bustling Mexican city calling me from outside a cracked window.
He asks, “Have we finally arrived?”
And I realize that the arrival is no sudden thing,
No music blaring, no round of applause.
What breeds contentment?
So many kissing the lips of death remind those of us still breathing that contentment is found in flitting moments.
And yet, with denial, we go on searching.
As I walked the path, shaped by blue sky covered by monarchs making new life,
The sound of their wings echoing a light waterfall,
I could not help but understand that the cycle of life is always woven into every stitch of breath.
Though we move and reach, there is no substantial arrival.
Without awareness, our mind freezes time.
And yet, when we pay uttermost attention,
We see that arrival is followed by yet another wave of movement.
Some say they are not dancers, artists, writers, creatives.
And yet, we are inherently all of those.
As we walk this unknown, changing frame of time,
No one can escape the continuity of life living out its one, true goal.
Coming together, moving apart.
Pay attention.
Life is running through you right this very moment.

artist acknowledgement: JHVEP Monarch Butterfly on Tree Branch in Blue Sky Bac