Hair falls out
From a
Neatly
Pinned
Bun.

Nothing stays
Where it should.

Everything bends
Towards chaos
Disorder
Disorganization.

A hand, my hand,
Reaches up to swoop
The strand of stray hairs
Out of my face
And back into its
Proper place.
But it will fall again.

Is this what Life is:
An endless struggle
Between things
As they “ought”
And things as they “want”?

Everything slides
Toward freedom.
Everything desires
To slip from confines.
Blessed
Beautiful
Free
And sometimes happy
Are those minds that
Finally
Do.


Certain things cannot be tamed
Or changed
Or explained:
How the river flows
From where the wind blows
The depth and mystery of the ocean,
Nobody ever knows.
But still,
Like soft, green leaves
Unfurling in the gentle morning sun,
Mother Nature laughs and cries and grows.

To learn from Her,
To live as She lives,
Is to ride the current of Life,
Wherever it goes—
Without painstaking plans,
Without perfection or years of preparation,
Without panic
Without fear of drowning or of traveling
A lifetime in the wrong direction.

To live as She lives
Is to throw away our mentality
Of tying things up,
Of caging things in,
Of always planning for the end,
When what would be better
Is to simply take a big breath
And finally begin.
To live as She lives
Is to run outside
And shake out every one of our hairs.
To live as She lives
Is to fill our lungs with fresh air
And scream as loudly and wildly
As we possibly can,
Simply because we can.
To live as She lives
Is to take a deep breath
And realize we’ve just uttered the oldest of prayers.
To live as She lives
Is to embrace the fragility of life
And dive daringly into the
Dark and dangerous depths of death.

To live as She lives
Is to let go
Is to let things fall
Is to die
Is to experience together
The danger and beauty and mystery
Of Life.
To live as She lives
Is not to hold on
Or even to know.
Rather,
To live as She lives
Is to let everything go,
Is to allow things to fall,
Is to embrace the unknown,
Is to feel the wind as it blows
Is to watch the flower as it grows
Is to become a part of the river as she flows.