To myself

I am
laughter
on a good day,
kind and thoughtful.
I read obituaries--
my heart fills with
sorrow and pride
for lives lived.
It's as good as any of us can do
sometimes
to get through the days.
But when it's over all lives
could be great movies
because they have joy and pain,
dreams and hopes,
success and failure.
These souls saw colors of sunsets,
so many colors who could
pick a favorite?
Fire flies, stars shooting, a rainbow.
Little wonders.
Hear the prairie thunder--
it could be July or August against Orion's
midnight sky of black.
Some painted in watercolors or
told great stories around crackling campfires
by any lake anywhere.
Have you ever felt wind
so strong
it takes your breath?
Courage, honor
tradgedy, failure.
Walt fought in the war.
Georgia was a poet.
Ralph lost his sunglasses
in an outhouse
then tried to fish them out
with a daredevil.
Laura loved me.
Delores danced.
Odie gambled.
Who would have known?
These wild lives
fill me
with a crooked smile
that says you lived, all of you lived
and I will too.
On a good day,
I do more
than dream.