Signs of Life

Two feet away from me,
on the other side of the mini blinds
and the glass of a big window,
the sun is shining in that
special slant that only occurs
in the fall months.

The light is so ripe,
I can see the heaviness of
the air and the normally
invisible particles that
float in it everyday.

Sparkles in the air,
the gentle non-threatening
hum of a lazy, fat wasp,
green grass just now
drying from early
morning dew.

Perfect reading weather.
Perfect picnic and
napping weather.
Instead, we’re all
in our little cubes,
staring blankly ahead
at computer monitors,
headphones attached to our
heads, typing, mousing,
while our eyes get dried out
from not enough blinking.

Signs of life can’t be
seen on a computer screen.

Signs of life are outside,
in the heavy sunshine,
seen in the fuzz on the wasp’s back,
the dandelion fluff that makes
us sneeze,
and in the rise of blood to the
surface of our cheeks as we
get pleasantly sun-kissed.

We lie in the grass, reading
a good book, hands linked together,
and dozing off too long on
this lazy, September morn.

This is life.
Real life.
Sweat, sunburns,
and dreams,
while the wasps
drift by.

EWLane 9/16/14