Before and After

Before and after, words did not matter,

before you and I were born. There was

no math, when two plus two had no

answer, no geography either needed to

map, no history, year after year to guide

the way. In the beginning before, and in

the after, no matter. Either way, no Mozart,

no Picasso, no Edison, Ford or Chevrolet, no

tomorrow or yesterday, no smart phones or

xylophones, no laughter, no tears or moans

and groans. This is why we do not recall all

the possibilities, the hum of bees, the song

birds sing. That was all before leaves and

needles processed the trees, after the seas

receded, after mountains collapsed and were

buried summarily under nothing beneath.

No books to read before. No stories to be

told after, no one to look, listen and learn.

In the here and now, one might pause to

wonder where in hell to begin? In the here-

after, I suppose, only heaven knows. Go figure.

Before and after. In the blank space below,
add all the things for you which do and do
not matter.

Chris Hanch 8-21-19

Transformation

The snake and the toad shed their skins in

order to grow. Cicadas emerge after seven-

teen years buried in the Earth to discard

their shells and briefly sing their late summer

mating song. Everyone knows the caterpillar's

story transformed in the cocoon to a butterfly.

There are those who believe in reincarnation,

a new life, a different time and some other des-

tination. The wind changes direction one day,

and we become a different person than we

originally set out to be. I once met a young

man who at twenty-years was lost like me

when I was his age. I figured no matter from

which direction the wind was blowing on any

given day, he was bound to find another way.

Even though on the surface it appears to be

so, upon closer inspection, all snake skins

are not the same.

Chris Hanch 8-20-19

Something About Adventure

Should I think about what the badger

is doing, I may be following the wrong

trail today. Besides, there are no badgers

to track in my neck of the woods anyway.

Couldn’t keep up, don’t have the slightest

clue as what to do even if could or would

in any case. So then, why a badger? Why

not a lion or tiger? Because my passport

for exotic adventure has long ago expired.

Besides. I have grown tired, and am bound

by my inability to track the wild and un-

tamed. Today, as it was for me yesterday

and a considerable time before, I shall

have my adventures vicariously as I nod

off intermittently with my dogs while

watching the wild life on TV. Sad, one

might add. I say no, not so for me. I repeat,

not so, don’t pity me. Turns out, badgers

and the like are way too wily for me to follow

in their natural habitat, literally speaking.

Chris Hanch 8-19-19

In Thought and Deed

Without giving it so much as a

thought, I awoke today believing

in the sun, and there it was already

done. Same with the planet Earth

beneath my feet, an automatic

grounding for me, right on time

and in its rightful place. Faith in

reality, good or bad, I believe.

Coffee seems as air itself, my

precious morning functionality.

Oh good Lord yes, I do believe.

The pain which accompanied me

to bed last night greets me this

morning as the framework of my

reality...Hello arthritic hips and

knees. So then, humans along

with all other species still alive

and thriving are driven in thought

and deed by their own familiarity?

Yes, precisely! In this my re-awaken-

ing, I shall resist extinction. For today,

in form and concept, this is reality—

in and out I breathe, my unabashed

responsibility.

Chris Hanch 8-18-19

Buried Treasure

Some folks spend their time gathering

stones, hoping to discover silver and

gold. Most find lime stone and granite

instead. Still they keep digging for more.

My father followed that path faithfully

along the way. Got to have a positive

attitude, he would say. My ship is bound

to come in one day.

For years, he scoured the shore through

fair weather and storm. There was only

sand and sea shells to sift through. And

so he considered maybe pearls would do.

One day he pitched his shovel and spade

and walked away, figuring no ship worth

its weight could ever find safe harbor in

such shallow waters anyway.

He saved a fossil with an impression of

a trilobite he had found on one of his digs.

Why, it’s gotta be a couple of hundred mil-

lion years old, he would often claim.

Folks just don’t find stuff like this every day.

Chris Hanch 8-17-19

At the Nursing Home

At the nursing home, I see the ravages of not
remembering, Alzheimer, I am told. A shame
not remembering your own children, not know-
ing who you have become.

And the others, idle, lining the hallways in wheel
chairs, sent here in their last months and years for
aseptic caring even their own kin were no longer
willing or able to provide.

The listless bedridden are stowed away in rooms,
eyes glazed-over fixed on the empty, colorless walls.
As for me, a visitor in my early fifties, I pray this end
of days scenerio is not to be part of my destiny.

I close my eyes imagining, is this life-lost existence
a cursed foreshadowing? A shroud of darkness and
the deafening sound of silence settle over me. I take
a deep breath and smell the disinfectant of motality.

And I can see the depths of eternity.

Chris Hanch 8-16-19

For Better or For Worse

Turn to the left or right, the choice is ours

to make. The bear sniffs its way to the

right place. The eagle flies in the right

direction every time. I watch the ant,

he knows where to go. I should say, he

or she. To the ant it doesn’t matter. It

accepts every turn as the right one to

make. Autopilot is a term raccoons never

learn, but if one pays attention, they don’t

ever seem to lose their way. We humans

would not have come this far without

paying attention to the world around us.

A lion chases down the gazelle and mauls

it for its meal. Just because you shop at

the grocery store in a civilized manner

doesn’t mean you’re not capable of murder.

The choice is yours. I’m praying that both

of us know a better way.

Only we humans have the need to do that.

Chris Hanch 8-15-19