Ordinary Time -- A Poem

Ordinary time

My days are alive in recent weeks
With change and transformations
So rapid I cannot keep up.

Like the frames of a movie
Spinning past bright light,
I cannot see them one by one.

But I absorb the unfolding story
And recognize it as my own,
Suspending my disbelief.

I am alive not only to my pain,
Which I had begun to suppress
In the false name of wellness,

But I am alive to my joys,
Which no longer seem forced
Through a cloud of grief.

And this is new,
I am alive to calm and stability
And dare I say a life sometimes absent intensity.

I am alive to those times
In between joy and pain,
I am alive to ordinary time.

I am alive to the olive tree
Ablaze with sunlight at the magic hour
That is the inspiration of poets and painters

And filmmakers
And souls seeking rest and restoration.