Relish The 31 557 600 Seconds Of 1999 Poem by Diana van den Berg

Awake with the year like a child on a birthday.
Feel new life sprout through the pavement cracks.
Grasp with both hands, every quivering moment,
and ignite them all
with Life in the round.

Reach past the laughter and smiles of the homeless;
endure their raw anguish
and savour each unconstrained joy.

Set free your emotions and tease them alive.
Toss them, turn them, wave them, wear them, stretch them, shake them, shock them,
teach them how to run, fly and dive.

Crack the encasement that traps all your senses;
sing patterns made by light and shade;
colour your canvas with whispering breezes;
touch the sweet fragrance of milky-white night flowers;
taste honey’s secret -
and walk barefoot
on sharp gravel stones.

(December 1998)