Poem of the Month: March 2005

It is possible that things will not get better
than they are now, or have been known to be.
It is possible that we are past the middle now.
It is possible that we have crossed the great water
without knowing it, and stand now on the other side.
Yes: I think we have crossed it. Now
we are being given tickets, and they are not
tickets to the show we had been thinking of,
but to a different show, clearly inferior.

Check again: it is our own name on the envelope.
The tickets are to that other show.

It is possible that we will walk out of the darkened hall
without waiting for the last act: people do.
Some people do. But it is probable
that we will stay seated in our narrow seats
all through the tedious dénouement
to the unsurprising end - riveted, as it were;
spellbound by our own imperfect lives
because they are lives,
and because they are ours.

- Robyn Sarah

Journal prompts:

• If your life were a three-act play, where in the movement are you? Intermission? Act 2? Approaching the big finish? Barely getting to know the characters?
  
  
• Look around the "stage" of your life. What do you notice about the sets? The props? The cast? The script? If you were the director (and you are), what would you change? What is Tony-award-winning perfection?
  
  
• "It is possible we are past the middle now." Cast ahead in your mind 20 years. What sort of life do you want to be living then? What can you do, starting now, to actualize that vision?