“Attention is the door way to gratitude…to wonder…to reciprocity.” -Robin Wall Kimmerer

 

Pay Attention

 

Pay attention and feel. 

The touch of the earth, the solid ground beneath your feet. 

Slow down and smell. 

The scent late summer air heavy with rain,

hot asphalt and mildew. 

Stop and notice.

The sunlight and the shade playing shadows

across the buildings and the cracks in sidewalk

telling you the time, day and season.  

Quiet and listen.

Hear the cicadas singing the final, bittersweet melody of dusk

interrupted by a far off call of children playing ball in the last bit of daylight

and another plane passing overhead but then,

for a fleeting moment, silence. 

 

Attention is a doorway—enter 

through your senses and receive  

the world of gratitude and wonder.