Excesses

Picture the tortoise, beneath the shell it

carries everything it has learned through

millennia of evolution, everything over

a lifetime it will ever need to know.

Take the crow, it has taken to the wing

leaving all of its gatherings behind. And

beetle has no need to contemplate or save

for yet another day. For all these, simple

are their ways. Now, take me, for instance,

I save boxes, those convenient carriers of

things I may have bought and received. I

stash them on an upper shelf in the closet,

figuring they will live there until I find a

need. (And please realize, my friends, I do

have needs now and again.) One just never

knows when the moment will arrive, for

either storage or gift-giving, I will find

those boxes necessary for that which I have

bought, found or been given to put inside.

The time will come, I’ll say. Life does present

itself with such events that way. And should

I decide to move to another place one day,

who can rightly say, I may find those cardboard

containers too small or an unsuitable fit for the

task at hand. Just more excess baggage, I

may claim. Who can say? There and then I

could decide, screw it!... And I’ll pitch the

whole damned lot away.

Chris Hanch 2-17-18