Step

So basic, I can't even remember how I do it.

Could you describe what it's like to take a step?

Think about how it starts --

(If you have to get up and go through the motions first,

that's okay. That's what I had to do.)

It starts with a delicate shift

and sway and lift,

a moment that hangs in the balance

between you were and you will be.

Then, forward!

No movement without friction

(and for some of us, without pain).

Get this: as you push off from the earth,

you push the earth away,

equal and opposite reaction.

A weighty notion -- anyone can move

the world with just one step.

(An infinitesimal amount, to be sure,

but the knowing is what matters.)

Then transfer weight, release,

lift,

and the future becomes the present.

You are one stride closer to --

well, where were you going?

What do you expect at the end of your steps?

fridge altar door diploma toy bathroom vista arms crib casket ...

The end, that is truly how it starts.

No step without wanting a somewhere that's not here

and trusting yourself to move,

even if you only begin

by pushing back the past

just an infinitesimal bit,

and lift, and land,

and again.

***

***

Dedicated to my daughter, who keeps on rolling.