Wait a Minute
I open my eyes in the Morning.
For a minute
I am neither here nor there.
Then in the next minute
I am here but starting
to be there.
The day has begun.
I will get up
and start to seek,
and continue starting,
so that every minute of this day
will begin with an anticipation
of the promise of the next one.
All day long and into the evening,
every minute of my waking hours,
I will not be here
because I am seeking
to be there.
I tell myself —
a pill will do it,
a walk in the fine fresh air will do it,
a Villa-Lobos prelude will do it,
a message on my answering machine will do it,
a good library book will do it,
a glass of wine at five o’clock will do it,
a good dinner will do it.
I close my eyes in the evening,
and say to myself,
with relief at the day’s ending:
a good night’s sleep will do it.
Every day is the same.
I never stop to ask:
“Do what?”
I never think to look for
what it is
that lies between the
beginning of the minute
and the end of it.
by Peggy Freydberg
from Poems from the Pond
Hybrid Nation, 2015