The Unknown’s Known

Today is the day,
littered clouds, bare branches
with bright crimson cardinals—  
thankful for all preceding, 
the stretching, a solemn swallow, 
yet dancing with their song. 

In quiet prayer, 
gazing upon my future, 
equipped and encompassed by grace.  

Sun high, with sidewalk steps, 
I will be standing in the subsequent, 
a slung smile and weathered skin,
beaming back on today.

Airplane

August 27, 2017

I went to Atlanta a few weeks ago, for a business trip. We boarded onto a tiny eight-passenger plane, an intimate aircraft where pilots told us to tap their shoulder if we needed anything and where strangers conversed with others. For our flight total duration, we trailed along the sunset–shifting from Nashville to Atlanta. It was magic. I scribbled a short poetic note on the flight, and I wanted to share it with you. 

Airplane 

Ears popping, my eyes scanning the pesticide track patters within the circle and square lots below. My eyes meet the river lines—their origins and their outpour. The clouds, watching the drops percolate through the weightiness of the world, creating something beautiful for bystanders below. 

I’m thankful for the view, snapping a few photos every moment or so, naming the thanks even in the small things: this book on my lap, the forty-thousand foot view, the gentle drops of the aircraft, the chatter of one stranger helping another. 

To the right are a plethora of beautiful billows, foamy and frothy. To the left are the cotton ball clouds lay beneath the aircraft, wind-raked and lightly packed, transparently texturing the sky. I hold on to this moment.

We drift along the sunset. In the distance, I see a series of clouds that remind me of those shared in view with my husband on our honeymoon cruise. I don’t wish to go back, though. Eyes hang in the thick of the fog, unmarred by nostalgia’s notorious spill. Every while further from the last provokes deeper understanding, prolongated past with each mile leveling a closer parallel to the sun’s stage.

 A deeper, richer color saturates our love—kindred to the day’s finale.

Refresh

Life is infinite, but also fleeting. Each moment passes right before our eyes and through our fingers. I find that bits of my time is spent within an alternate period. My mind wanders into the forest of the past, dwelling within my prior maturity, cluttering the present like moths to a lamp. Other pieces are wasted by preparing for the distant future—but the future can only be comprised through this current moment. No matter how little time I spend glancing back or focused forward, if it distracts from the present, I want to cleanse it from my thoughts. 

I place precedence on the alignment of priorities and ambitions that have stirred up deep within my soul—to write, to paint, to letter, to create tangible relationships with others. I have too many paint tubes that have not yet been squeezed flat, watercolors that have not yet been diluted. I have lined journals craving to hold the stories that have been brewed within my mind and thoughts and ideas which are awaiting to be poured to paper. 

To correspond with this shift, I’ll be taking a brief recess from social media. I love to share moments within the tiny, little squares—or through short text snippets—holding onto memories which prompt gratitude. But as I take a retreat from my glowing-blue screen, I have confidence that through unplugging, a spark will burst full of creativity towards my current endeavors. Instead of spending the in-between minutes scrolling through a never-ending relay of photos, I’ll be dreaming and sketching the southern magnolia trees.

For this life is also infinite, in the incredible ways and occurrences in which we have the opportunity to live it out. This thought has my mind swelling of intention—a word and practice increasingly familiar to my pen, readers and attention. It has also been sweeping into my encounters with others, another deliberate proceeding which is becoming more fluid. Through genuine in-person interactions, a raw and organic relationship unfolds. This is probably one of the greatest aspects of human life—human interaction. I’ll be forever learning to slow down, and endlessly working to encourage each individual I come across. Within this alignment, others are my pinnacle within the present. 

I also have a consistent pine for creating and sharing, with a priority of devoting diligence in sharing these pieces through my blog. I’ll have more hours to dedicate towards artfully crafting my book—which while writing, inspired this act to refresh and reset my arrangement of ambitions. For within this revival, I found that nothing is more important than this hour, and the way in which I occupy it. 

Thank you for your boundless support, reader and friend. I am full of  anticipation within these current moments and to share the present time with you. 

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