Now that I need not

wake for work

I rise at first light,

 

tired but present.

It is my time

for contemplation,

although my frivolous thoughts

might make the Buddha

chuckle. Sometimes

 

I think of you.

How close we were

and how the distance

 

has grown past reconciliation.

Would you even recognize

me now without prompting?

 

I’ve thought of writing to you.

I imagine you

still in your childhood home

 

anxiously opening the envelope,

worried it might be bad news.

I’ve tried, halfheartedly, but find

 

I have few words to share—

unsettling for someone

who made his way with words.

 

But, there is a slowing here—

I fear I won’t conquer

the world after all.

 

Have you?

I don’t suppose so.

Another class graduated

this week—so many plans,

so much horizon,

hourglass be damned.