Grace

The trick
is to like heartache
but not too much.

It is good
to feel the wince
of April dogwoods
pink and rousing
before June
or to bask in your son”s
unmitigated smile
knowing
mitigations will come.

But it is not good
to seek what simply
will break you,
like a compelling lover
who cannot give you
what you need
or a baseball team
that will never win.

It is good, though
to embrace 18-year-olds
setting out for their Ithakas
knowing you, their teacher
will be left back again,
or to let your lips linger
on the mouth of a woman
with whom conversation carves
an atlas of roads
across your face
before you leave her
again.

But it is certainly not good
to forget God, and by that I mean
all the wisdom you have learned:
the ocean wind that blows cold
yet holds you
the changed butterfly beating
into thick canopies of light
the sacrament of song and dance
that gives voice
to grief.

The trick
is to like heartache
just enough
to convert it to wonder
and let it move you
the way all the embers
of galaxies
spin away
from that single source
in silent
parallel
flight.

– Matt Pasca

© 2016, Matt Pasca, All rights reserved