Mesmerized

I am mesmerized

by the beings here

The beings of black and white,

I have been mesmerized before

Pressed behind the plexiglass

of the aquarium many times

Yet striking my full attention now

Is how they move in the open air

of South Africa—

Feeling into their homeland,

Feeling into their free

Slick and nimble through salty sea

With cold crested curves rolling

their bodies toward…

Toward something bigger

Bigger than themselves in brilliance

Then tossed out, humbly & awkwardly

onto land with sun baked rocks & redearth

with dripping bellies,

droopy arms swinging low and slow

Without disagreement,

no, even with Joy

The palpable magnetism of gravity

in their waddle makes me feel

my own awkwardness with delight,

makes me notice my company

in the paradox by I feel by the sea;

so small and flickery is my beam

in the vast swell of ocean Light—

so slick and nimble in my divinity,

so humble and heavy in my humanness

I am mesmerized by the beings

here of black and white,

the African penguins

Oh how my life, all of Life,

is a gorgeous paradox of black and white,

Yet lived out often in confusing colors

Colors of the infinite shades of gray…

I am mesmerized

by these black and white Joyful

reminders of the Truth—

That Everything is gorgeous

Photo by Philip Hutcherson at penguin reserve South Africa

Onmurdencove.com