“Too much to love:” a poem about attention and hope

Too much to love

Now, the bee on the milkweed,
ambling from one ruby cluster to the next,
with the purslane sleeping, waiting to open
its blossoms, mouths to drink the light
as the morning sun rises.

Now the crow slowly flying
over my garden, and as I look up,
it turns its face directly towards me,
our eyes connecting in that instance,
the black-feathered friend of shadows.

Now the water on the fallen leaf,
crystals scattered on the ground
after the night’s wind and rain,
as the sweet smell of gardenia
lays across my shoulders like
a blanket made of air.

There is power in our attention,
a force in our heart’s focus,
where our souls are rooted,
drawing water from the river of life.

There is simply too much to love
to lose hope and yield to despair.

--Blessings, Stuart