Balm

Easy to be caught up in a hectoring world,
taciturn and doleful with all its ills unfurled.
But every day the real world holds us in its cup.
Look to the right and left of you. Look earthwards, or look up

to feel the extraordinary in the common thing—
the stamen of a flower or swallows on the wing.
The sunlight on the cobblestones or stars flocking the moon.
The cheeping of a baby bird or wailing of a loon.

Cutter ants in rank and file, purloining leaf by leaf
an entire bougainvillea bush, thief by tiny thief.
Bees mining for nectar, a squirrel hoarding nuts,
raindrops on the garden loam, sculpting tiny ruts.

The wonders of the natural world, prodigious and varied
can sooth away the worries of a world that’s over-harried.
Take the time to notice. Make use of the calm
that’s present all around you, and use it as a balm.

Word prompts are the extraordinary in the ordinary, taciturn, hectoring, prodigious and feel.