Every day I fall in love again
with the world—with the sweetness
of pears or with green. With
a man or a child or a woman
or a cat or with the way drupes hang
from birch branches in spring.
Every day it overtakes me,
this rush of joy paired with a rush
of sorrow. Always the two together.
Like opening my eyes as wide
as I can, but longing to open them wider.
Like the terrible tingles I feel in my hands
when they return after being numb.
Like the long, terrible silence
after I share the secrets of my heart.
Oh world, don’t let me be deterred.
Let me fall in love always. Let me always
be opening, wide and wider than that.
Look, even now the sun is peeking
through the clouds just enough
to make the whole world,
even the old tires, even the bones shine.