A Lifetime of Grateful
Stittsville, 2009

I could count
Those moments
On the fingers
Of my two hands.

Those rare,
And beautiful,
Moments
When a realization
Settles,
Suddenly,
Upon me.

Standing,
Perhaps,
At the kitchen counter,
Or sitting,
Perhaps,
Colouring,
Or reading.

I stop,
As it descends
Like a rare,
And precious,
Gift:
A moment,
Of complete,
And total,
Absence
Of Pain.

This simply
Doesn’t happen.
It hasn’t
For, oh,
So many
Years.

Sure,
There are times,
When the count
Is low.
I might give it
A 4 out of 10,
A 5 out of 10.
But this,
This is different.
It does not
Even register.

It is an absence,
Pure,
And simple,
An absence
Of pain.

Meds, perhaps,
Kicking in?
They don’t,
For the most part,
Help much,
Other, perhaps,
Than to take
An edge off
Now and then.

But this sweet,
Momentary,
Blissful,
Absence.
This complete
And total
Absence,
Of pain,
Settles on me,
And I shudder
With the ecstasy
Of it,
While everything else
Is in suspension,
Even my breath.

And,
For this moment,
This
Oh so sweet
Moment,
I am grateful.
Deeply,
Blissfully,
Grateful.

A lifetime
Of Grateful
In a Moment.