everything has impact

Comes to it, winter, slow lines along the streetside
and meaning settles back into itself, lifts its arms
across the back of an old wooden bench. Hoorah for everything!
Spines full of light and shoes that carry meaning.
Winter, as the end, becomes the start again tomorrow.

Capturing the moment, then setting it free.
Concerned with a purpose, then moved by it. A man becomes a man
When he lets his life be its mission. And everything
has impact. Moved by the wind, the flag unfurls above the memorial
rocks and the retired airman on a bench feels

like crying. The photographer sees this and snaps. Three months later
a son opens a magazine and sees his lonely father cry.
He leaves work early and takes his own son to the park. The boy
does not need to know why. Step forth into the light.
Come to it. Decides to try. Autumn drops its leaves and clouds

up its skies. Breezes make their impacts, then subside.
In the midst of it all, the young boy spins like a spider hangs
from its thread and the young man who started him
surrenders what he understands. The past was the present but the world
moved on. Everything comes to it not alone.

After Sweating

Cold, maybe, but worth the sitting still.
The past is all the way behind.
Leave the load whatsoever can be left.
The waves are dying to become the lagoon below.

And wind lifts birds. And the moon waxes toward full.
There's smoke still rising from the firepit.
And rocks still letting off heat. And heat still fills
whosoever's bones. A rock skips

across the surface before dropping.
Then drops below the surface and out of sound.
Amazed by moonrise, the birds come screeching.
The past is behind but all around.