Did you ever just walk along on a so-so day
and feel a twinge of happiness
because your headache went away,
or because your cat came home before you went to bed last night,
or the chill wind isn’t frigid,
or the splinter in your palm
that you couldn’t remove has stopped stinging,
or the snake that you just inspected in the road
was flattened outright, so it didn’t have to suffer,
or the leak that you fixed under the kitchen sink
is only dripping a little,
or the wood is almost stacked,
or they haven’t sent the bill for the roof repair yet,
or because neither Donald Trump nor Hillary
have been elected yet,
or the sound the car is making hasn’t gotten any worse,
or your wife still thinks you’re cute sometimes,
or people don’t grow on trees,
or because not all frogs are extinct yet,
or because you don’t have to feed the neighbor’s dog yet
and they will be back tomorrow,
or because they haven’t given up the search for that rare penguin
that two animal rights activists stupidly released,
or because winter Solstice isn’t too far off
and then the days will start getting longer,
or the grass only has to be mowed one more time,
or because if you live as long as your father
you have a ways to go?
Then stop a second,
take a breath
and keep going brother.
—Gary Lindorff