Here I Am

I don’t spend much time
contemplating the future,
which is why
it always surprises me
when it comes anyway
and so soon.

I am more focused
on trying to reconcile
the past,
because by now,
there is just so much of it.

Mostly,
I am absorbed in now,
on the people around me,
on the tasks before me.

So that sometimes,
I get so caught up
in managing the details
that I forget to look up.
I forget to notice the sky.

The days go by,
the seasons,
the years,
and here I am,
in just the place
my luck of circumstances
and a million
seemingly inconsequential
choices and habits,
both good and bad,
have carried me.

And look!
Here is the sky
above and all around me,
on this particular day,
constantly changing
and ever the same.

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith