every cloud

Every cloud has a silver lining—
so they say.
Silver is nothing but a slicker gray—
so I say,
as I stand, head angled back,
mouth a-cavern,
gaping at the mottled gray dome above.

A raindrop hits a tooth—
such precision in such a great fall!
and I think of what's behind those clouds.

I think of flying on a cloudy day.

On the ground, buckled into 23A (low and tight across the waist),
you are paled by gray.

Clouds blanket your view out of the little window.
No blue sky, no sunbeams,
barely any shadow.

Then.

A rush. A growl. A barbaric yawp.
The plane
parts the gray, sluices the monotony.
You—still in 23A—emerge in bright splendor.
In blue. In sun.

And the gray is still there—but not
where you can see it.

So.

Head angled back,
mouth a-cavern,
gaping at the mottled gray dome above,

I think:

The blue is still there—but not
where I can see it.

Every cloud has—
not a silver lining
but
a blue sky secret

waiting to be found.

rally to restore the everyday

I wasn't actually present at the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally in DC over the weekend, but I talked to someone at church who was, so that's kind of like I was there, right?

It's playing the six degrees of separation game, only with events. In the same way, I attended Obama's inauguration, and I'm pretty sure I could figure out a way to have attended the Oscars.

{Yeah, you're right—just knowing someone who went isn't really all that cool.}

But I did watch Jon Stewart's closing speech online, and it made me want to invite him to be a guest blogger for me.

Not that I've ever asked anyone else to write for me.

Or that he'd agree.

Or that I have the tiniest inkling of how to go about making that happen.

But still: I wanted him to write for me because he talked about something I talk about all the time. No, not musicals. Or Jane Austen. Or poetry. Or boys or running.

Jon Stewart talked about the small but significant ways we live our lives.

On a much bigger stage than I have ever used, he talked about how we find common ground and get through the day, through traffic, through small talk, through getting to know people who are different from you.

He didn't use this phrase, of course, but what he was talking about was the magic of the everyday, which I'm a big proponent of.

At least that's the feeling I got as I listened to the speech—that America isn't on the edge of disaster and that we are working hard to get along and fix what isn't working. In our small lives, we're getting by.

I especially liked this from Jon Stewart's speech:

"Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do. But they do it. Impossible things [are accomplished] every day that are only made possible through the little reasonable compromises we all make."

We're moving ahead. Together. Little by little.

And I hope you voted today.