I am one of the lucky ones

Neela Banerjee, The New York Times
12 December 2006

I am one of the lucky ones.
I see the colours that exist
between the lines, surrounding me
and filling the world around me,
even the people around me
with a fierce and fiery incandescence:
quotidian angels here on earth, grappling
with insouciance and with wonder.
And I hear their soulful, wandering keens
echoing in my quiet heart, chords that
do not want to resolve, ardent
in their fluidity, intent on
sustaining their uncertaining.
And I can walk the unknown paths
that no one has ever seen, tracks
not made by feet but by
my doubts and my restlessness,
to go to the still places of rest
and of insight and of grace.

These are transitions of grace.
These are unexpected blessings
that I accept with trembling hands,
and though they flow away,
they leave their luminous trails
for me to find again.

12 December 2006