1.

Joy has large and small containers as in the aftermath of a welcoming in-person chair yoga class I hear Led Zeppelin acoustic ballads on the car radio while driving home from Lenox town to the grace of a solitary chickadee’s contented melody from a rooftop as I pass below while walking.

2.

That the corner’s looming elm will outlive me moves eyes to wispy clouds that winds dispel. The impermanence of all things involves ourselves. A yearning soul emanates from the Divine Spark within to pray. May the Presence that transcends guide meaningfully through days.

3.

Joy permeates Pittsfield’s driving rain as I among four hundred with my beloved espouse goodness at a rally. We’ve come as if wood carvings from the silences of homes to count ourselves among elders who having marched for peace and justice from the Sixties still perceive a better world. Fertile minds belie our fragile aged frames.

4.

That breath follows breath brings awe. Humility bends my waist in gratitude. As I straighten to survey a mountain trail’s surroundings, I surmise that I take much for granted. Legs that ran five marathons when young etch strides on muddy roots to reach the sublime summit view.

5.

I cry at corner’s parting. Barbed wire barriers to left and right dispel fleeting warmth from worship within Rikers Island’s prison’s walls. Nine thirty-minute friends unconstitutionally detained reenter Hell while our small Torah team turns right. I sense a fragile line divides.

6.

A crimson parka’s angled hood hides someone’s face from April snow. A husky voice to my surprise emits “a Berkshire Spring!”  A lamb not lion image aligns with this reality. I raise my sleeve as if a mitt to catch then cradle flakes. I squint at sleeves to see holy intricacies in patterns.

7.

Peaceful morning before the waking world disrupts pristine Creation. First light through foggy pane shows crinkled leaves as sparrow’s camouflage in grass where mourning dove descends. Cardinal joins in parsing blades to cordially pursue the deck feeder’s fallen seeds while from one another so often seek or take. Hollow winged, melodic friends model coexistence, patience and resilience for when human eyes discern what minds deny.

8.

One cleansing breath’s a blessing, the ensuing sequence then a miracle. I pause to honor that my aging frame at seventy-two sustains its arc along life’s marathon. I dedicate chapped lips’ coffee sips to cherish pulsing heart and lung with thanks for what nearsighted eyes’ bifocal glasses enable me to see as sparse sunshine rays crease indigo in a scene for now of peace.

Misty eyes discern a wishbone twig as a sparrow’s predawn perch.

Simple beauty moves me. Around us cruelty ascends.

Oppressive actions deport migrants from our margins while

shredding safety nets that had seemed steadfast.

“The theory of the unitary executive” that public radio explains

exemplifies the sanitizing phrases meant to dull the truth’s rough edge

from what is in truth “dictatorship.” Orwell’s 1984 exposed “alternative

facts” as lies designed to muddle minds.

The sparrow’s calm lends the clarity that conceives a better world.

The ship of state slips moorings with Democrats adrift.

“A minority in Congress can do little. You must mobilize for midterms,”

they declare in vain against the town halls’ rage at what befalls us.

The Party’s erstwhile leaders sleep inside their Capitol cocoon.

Meanwhile prices rise. Executive Orders as an avalanche against

our cherished rights force us back inside our bubbles instead of driving us to streets.

The former Presidents and Speaker eulogized John Lewis with their own

“Good Trouble” vows. Their silence must make him sadly shake his head in Heaven.

The sparrow flies as if a Jacob’s Ladder angel that shall summon better selves.

Who will man the bridge or climb the mast to counter the protofascist in the Oval

who relentlessly lays siege? Patience and perspective emanate from innocence

and beauty that comprise the sparrow’s gift. Lift heads to see the sky!

Reach those among us on the margins who are barely getting by!