Unsettled

It is the people with good intentions
     well-meaning individuals and groups
who set rules, create reasons, dictate life.
I have read that it is the small, less namely things
     quiet days and motionless moments
that affect and change, that are the soul’s means and ways.
And I have been told a title
     extravagant tag or claim
means nothing and the act means all.
But all of this
     rules, guides, words from the mouths of others
was torn down as I encountered this day and this moment.
There comes a time when
     for the first time in your existence
you know: life is worth living for.
And I learned in this moment
     everything I’ve ever been told
is so much of nothing and so little to me.
It may not even be you
     unearthly, untainted creature
but the joining of two souls by any name.
And so I thank no one
     not you, not myself, not a deity above
for my conclusion.
I simply close by eyes
     black respite
and acknowledge the perfection of life gone right.
And when I open my eyes again
     to the blinding beauty of your face
I will smile with a heart of unsettling joy.

Unsettled
12.17.00