Zdzislaw_Beksinski_56_1600x1200The day your father died

the day the towers burned

the day she found out she had a tumor

I was doing something irrelevant

caught on auto pilot

like the time the door bell rang and

the pizza man handed over a bag

how did you think a bag could contain a large box?

you said as you ran after him shouting

you gave us the wrong order!

but he sped away on his small red bike

because he too was on auto pilot

and we dreamers who

find reality too hard

yet strive to know

we are often and regrettably lost

choosing puzzles over clarification

wandering the halls of the VA

in search of meaning

watching ruinous faces lose their facades

 

but when you had your first seizure

in the toilets and everyone began

to scream

I recalled my cousin seizing in the field

full of pollen and dragon flies

and held your head firm like a babe

baptized in a steam

in that moment I was not

a child of pretend and play

but an adult seeing the heart monitors of the world

bleeping to wake

the sleeper in me

who does not pretend to know

the journey in you

 

but when I lift my head from

distraction and sound

clear my mind and look around

then in the reflecting glass of true response

I can be as much as possible

the owner of my walk

thinking not of purchase and power

but the small mercies

we often over look

3 Replies to “Auto pilot”

  1. Flying at thirty thousand feet
    gazing out the cockpit window
    Auto Pilot minding the controls
    daydreaming
    Forgetting we are all
    Crew and passengers
    building the thing in flight
    Until the alarms scream
    and lights flash
    Reality intrudes with
    Wake-up Call

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