Shadows

As we make our way through the cool evening back towards home I’m distracted,

again.

Riding a motorbike through traffic in Hanoi is today a meditation

Unfortunately when I meditate, I am often sprinting off, to another time and place

My mind is a rabbit

Darting here and there, Looking for something, not sure what

An inter-loper, loping inwardly.

It’s in that moment I look down and notice the shadows

three helmeted heads, one slightly taller than the others

The boys are really growing

And as we move through these city streets

It’s the shadows that catch my eye

Appearing with rhythm and passing by underneath street light.

Hey boys, check out our shadows

And there’s an audible

whoa

from both of them.

And I, an old man, am simultaneously transported to now, and back to those moments. When the New Thing became real. When the mundane became momentous.

And my rabbit brain slows down for a beat.