I am must grateful

for (so far) surviving

the awful year of 2010--

for lasting through

hard-to-find-employment

and money-sucking illnesses

to find myself broke

and making doctors and insurance companies

rich rich rich

(doing my share to revive the economy

he said sarcastically)--

through deaths in the family

that made me realize why

I stayed out of touch for so many years

and why I was glad to bury the hatchet

and come back in from the cold

(it was never easy--never what I wanted--

never what they wanted--and still

making the best of what we have)

the comfort of easy moments

makes it easy to stand on an imaginary

mountaintop and preach to the deaf--

shine a light to the blind--

and see my own vanity reflected back

until the lesson of silence I always treasured

finally took hold--and for the coming year

let whatever prophecies fill our frightened ears

with their own ignorance--

I am most grateful to have awakened

to the fact of the eternal instant

in which all our notions of God Goddess Big Bang

fleeting time and attempts to live outside

the social illusions we call community

swirl in one anguished awareness

that (may it be so) will deliver us

to our desolation--

our exit --our release

to gratitude

Content (c) 2008-2010 Philip Milito.