December 28, 2024

There are problems I can't do anything about.
Things like this reflection
make that bearable somehow. 
You might say that it takes my pain away.
They provide breathing room,
allowing me to catch my breath,
shift my focus
and take heart 
in the presence of beauty and wonder
that makes the insoluble contradictions
tolerable,
allowing me to do what I can do 
about the things that I can do something about.

That's what gotten all of us--
the entire species--where we are
from where we have been.

We have never been able to do anything about
the things we could do nothing about,
and, yet, here we are,
still going.

That realization is like this reflection,
reminding me of beauty of wonder
that exists all around me
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

Encouraging me to carry on, carry on.
Through all that comes my way.
Doing what can be done
and letting the rest fall out as it may
for another day's work
and another day's worry.

In the meantime, there is the company
of others to be my comfort and consolation,
and the sustaining presence of the natural world
to carry me on.

And on.