--LET’S NEVER LOSE OUR SENSE OF WONDER

Post-Christmas Morning, 4:15 am

Fog burnishes the tips of each tree

that lines our lake,

shading the air with sepia hiccups,

ghostlike in a way,

white-gray smudges clinging to darkness,

doing their best to blot away the seeping daylight

the way a protective mother might.

This is the hour when

even the geese and eagles 

are in deepest slumber

and no one notices

but me

lying akimbo beneath the shimmering strands

of Christmas lights,

tufts of wrapping paper on the floor eye-level,

wondering how I got here,

this year,

this day,

this minute

a circumspect opportunity to re-load

the chamber of my life

and boldly pull the trigger.