Tipping the Scale

In favor of grace and time

photo by Tyson Dudley on Unsplash

Today I face my shadow alone
as I duck and dodge the sun,
making sure to walk
late enough in the day to see her stretch
taller and slimmer
than I’ll ever be.

As I count the years and blessings,
hoping that the latter number is larger than the former,
I pray the shadow my life casts is also larger
and stretches farther
than the reflection
laughing back at me
in the morning mirror.

I pay attention to time now,
in ways I never did,
making up for lost time —
if there is such a thing —
by quickening the pace of my cooking —
unleashing my creative wild to strut, play
and dance her purple crayon everywhere —
filling notebook after notebook
with scratches and scribbles
to be typed out later
when the hot blaze cools.