Cottontails, Skunks, and Foxes

At the beginning of life,

Everything’s unexpected

That you weren’t wired to expect.

Later, things get more routine.

Similar, familiar things

Happen again and again.

But, live through enough routine,

And you’ll get to live plenty

More unexpected events,

Great and small. Your awareness

Of awareness of living

Will tell itself foolish truths

About how you should expect

The unexpected. Indeed.

Your awareness is a sieve,

A little like the fine mesh

Of an archeologist,

A little like whale baleen,

But with more holes than either.

Shovel enough existence,

You’ll snag some toothsome oddments.

Memory will scoop them, piled

The way a child saves beach glass,

Left to imagination.

Don’t confuse experience

With wisdom. There’s no wisdom

Worth that odd experience.

Say nothing silly as this.

I thought I would die one day,

And then the next, and the next.

Now, I live like a dazed kid.

Yellow wildflowers, prickly pear,

Great clouds sailing in the heat.

There’s what’s expected of me,

And then there’s this kind of bliss.

I never expected this.