16.1.13

feast [Myrciaria cauliflora]







“Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. 
So practice happy thinking every day. 
Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, 
and life will become a continual feast.
[Norman Vincent Peale]









the late monsoonal rain 
saw your bare limbs blushing green
quickly followed by telltale berries 
small, hard, and vivid lime
soon swelling into deep purple softness
sweet and bitter
dark and light 
life's contradictions here for the devouring

the birds are fighting over your abundant riches 
and today I have entered the fray
tiptoeing warm mud - arms extended 
eyes, fighting through the green 
to guide eager fingers to their prize;

but instead, meeting a fellow traveller 
so deeply present
I feel almost an intruder 
and delight instead in witnessing the delight at hand 
as this gorgeous beetle - glowing greener than the foliage 
engorges with fervour the white floral banquet
of soft luscious flowers that decorate already laden branches

[again] he is delighted, reveling in this moment
and I am a grateful witness to this ardent display
hand filled with berries I am savouring the jaboticaba's sweet offerings 

as together we feast
the beetle
the friar birds
and I 





“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. 
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. 
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. 
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, 
and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

[images + text Bek Misic copyright 2013]