Haiku 2023–363
my catch and release
don’t hold onto a moment
let it float away
— —
You don’t have to search hard to find irony here — this haiku attempts to memorialize a moment I experienced.
Lying in bed in last night, a thought ran through my mind about something. Intrigued, I chased after it as hard and fast as I could trying to hold on to it and make it permanent but it dissolved into nothingness as quickly as it arrived. I searched through the detritus of my brain to find a way to stitch the idea back together, but I failed. Disappointed, I gave up…
…just in time for another thought to appear.
I chased this one as well, but had the same level of success as the first time. When I gave up on that thought it was replaced by another which also faded away. Another cycle of thought and forgetfulness was followed by another and then another yielding an increasing amount of frustration until I finally had had enough and bade myself stop.
That’s when something interesting happened.
I became unattached.
By allowing the moments to pass by without worry and concern, I found myself ready to accept the next moment of my life, then the next, then the next — a flood of thoughts and feelings unencumbered by any mental impediments of my making, existing one moment and gone the next. A continual cycle of creation and dissolution in the most beautiful and dynamic way possible.
A true feeling of presence — the desired outcome of all my meditative practices.
Sure, like a sport fisherman catching a prize, I experienced a moment for just a moment then let it go from whence it came. It won’t come back, but the lesson will live forever.
