Right now is enough

Don't let the snow in these photos fool you - the weather around here seems to have turned a corner, and a lot of our snow has melted. The sun even shined today - for the entire day! But this was the scene at our feeders last weekend. The snow had piled up overnight and buried the mealworms contained in this dish. The Carolina Wren knew they were there, though, so it dug away until it found the prize.





I've been thinking lately about time. Mostly it's been in response to a poetry prompt over at Read Write Poem (I warned you all that I would be working on my writing chops - this is one way of doing so), but the subject went even deeper for me this morning when I contemplated what text would be appropriate to link my photos of the Wrens to a poem about time. Then, as I was cropping the images for this post, it hit me. How do animals experience time? I've heard more than once that dogs, for example, "live in the moment,", and that they don't plan for tomorrow, or for the next hour for that matter, and they certainly don't dwell on the past. What about birds? I would have to assume they are much the same way. I doubt that there was much thought of the future in this Wren's mind while it was digging through the snow to find a worm. Here all we humans are, wondering about when on earth the weather is going to clear up and when it's going to start seeming like spring, and talking about how bad this winter has been. By contrast, all this Wren is thinking about is right now. Sometimes I think it would be a relief to have such a seemingly simple thought process, such an uncluttered mind, but then again, if that were the case, I wouldn't have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

Right now is enough
We spend so much time looking forward, waiting for what is not now.
Awaiting the song and bloom of spring,
Awaiting the sun and harvest of summer,
Awaiting the cool and blaze of autumn,
Awaiting the hush and white of winter.
We live within one season, all the while longing for the next,
As if the present isn't good enough, isn't pretty enough, isn't alive enough.
As if right now simply isn't enough.
Past, present, future;
Was, is, will be.
Tick-tock.
Be.

If you like to read poetry or write poetry, or both, you should check out Read Write Poem.