Where The Sky Begins

I lazily gaze into the same backyard I’ve been gazing into since childhood

Feeling like this time’s the first

And a deep sense inhabits my being:

There was always a place for me here and there always will be

I am intimately aware of the bark on the apple tree

And the blades of grass

And the silhouette of mountains on the horizon

And the bird feeder my mom hung from a branch a lifetime ago

Not as an outside observer, but as a fixture, an appendage, a family member

Noticing becomes merging

Into the interconnected effervescence of it all

As if I’m simply returning to a lively conversation with friends who’d never been aware of my absence to begin with

The gentle wind caresses my bare arms

And sashays around me with ease

As if it had long accounted for my occupancy in this space whether I was there or not

The sun winks directly at me as it descends below graying clouds

As if to say “So long, for now”

Affirming the expectation of my return with no reliance on it

The outstretched fractals of spruce branches tickle the sky

As if both sky and tree are putting on a show for me

Enticing me to giggle

And wonder where everything ends and the sky begins

As if the breath of my life

The complex diaphragmatic contractions that pressure atomic elements to pervade and sustain my being

Is any separate from the boundless mysterious blue æther that we call the heavens.