Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

~ Live & Learn

You tell me to live each day
as if it were my last. This is in the kitchen
where before coffee I complain
of the day ahead – that obstacle race
of minutes and hours,
grocery stores and doctors.

But why the last? I ask. Why not
live each day as if it were the first –
all raw astonishment, Eve rubbing
her eyes awake that first morning,
the sun coming up
like an ingénue in the east?

You grind the coffee
with the small roar of a mind
trying to clear itself. I set
the table, glance out the window
where dew has baptized every
living surface.

– Linda Pastan, “Imaginary Conversation” from Insomnia: Poems

 

Notes: Poem – Thank you Whiskey River. Photo: (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)

34 thoughts on “Monday Morning Wake-Up Call”

      1. Because I think it’s brilliant. And speaks to my soul.
        Because I feel it is necessary to live like it our first day, everyday. Instead of the other way around.

        It’s easier said than done. But I love the idea.

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  6. How true. Why does living each day as if it were our last make us try harder? Kind of oxymoronish when you think of it..

    I think I shall have to print this poem in large font and put it where I can read it every morning. (The large font meaning I don’t need to put my glasses on before 😉 )

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      2. David, Dale; in France there’s a saying: Do you see ‘pigeon’ etched onto my forehead?
        That’s when somebody takes you for an idiot and you mean to tell them that you see through their scheme!

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          1. ….. and still making me laugh out loud, every time I think of it! The lady who helped us (then!) to get established in France, used this expression first and when we meet up we always find a way to make use of this sentence…..

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    1. Why not
      live each day as if it were the first –
      all raw astonishment, Eve rubbing
      her eyes awake that first morning,
      the sun coming up
      like an ingénue in the east?

      THAT’s the bit to live by….

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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