All-At-Once

I have always been
a lover of transitions
when the door
of possibility widens
and when life and death
are true partners
in the folk dance,
arm hooked in arm
as they doe-si-doe
to the call of fortune.

I strive to set my pace
to this call, to hook
my arm in turn
with youth and age,
and welcome both
life and death
into my heart,
coming to understand
what it means to be a man
for all seasons, what it takes
to be living the whole
of my life all-at-once.

Here, in the blessing
of this between,
I offer my prayer
to the full moon,
angled to catch the light
of a hidden sun, because
it remains complete in itself
regardless of its wax and wane,
whether full or new,
whether seen or unseen.

Photo taken of my reflection with broken arm in a sling while at the Happoen Garden in Tokyo on June 5, 2017.

As a teenager, before departing on my first airplane trip alone, I bought a copy of a Science Fiction magazine that included a short story about a man that stopped time by experiencing the whole of his life, from birth to death, all-at-once. The idea fascinated me and has been with me since. Here is my poetic translation of this idea:

How wide is your embrace for your own life? The wider your embrace,
the more of yourself you include,
and the more fully alive you will be...

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