Emerald

On a day when emerald is ubiquitous one may dwell on greening and springtime and renewal and coming of new life Yes, life What is life? Some call it sacred special or a gift But you can certainly remember that one person who made living sound so ordinary that listening to the details prompted the mind to unravel to travel to wander to rid the environment of the commonplace Birth always first I remember only the crib and mobile and the aquarium with the angelfish and two faces a man and a woman dad and mom Then came the fourth birthday baby teeth out and the puppy in, the terrier and my companion always by my side And because I am of that generation I still remember the kid Sonny who caught a virus and then disappeared We thought it was normal when the teacher told us he died from the sickness from disease now readily cured just by swallowing medication twice There were days at play and Sherry and Brian and the Lone Ranger hoarding toys and going home and then waking up one morning And I'm in high school a rite of passage and I no longer want to know brother and sister because I was becoming important There was track and swimming and chemistry and physics and algebra and chemistry again when I fell in love and kissed and fell in love again and then all over again I forget the faces but remember the convertible and the nights parked at the beach and the prom and the grad where life seemed to stop and I thought I mortgaged my own apartment in Nirvana But college called and academics and athletics and love filled every moment (Where did I get all that energy?) And then everything I knew as love withered when that Treasure from overseas made an introduction from that insane instant we became inseparable and I now knew love lust and humanity were discrete but best when bundled tight and held close And so the family began to arrive all the greatest of gifts when in third year I broke my leg too ironically or provocatively a day after reading in the student paper another cheerleader activist broke both legs falling from a balcony And a private dream died because I never played a sport professionally and walking hurt for over a year but I saved the casts crutches wheelchair Graduation with honours came and then a job another and another and still another all adding up what might I call a career at some stage There was that year I didn't forget to call the brother and sister and they were fine and so was I and then I did a double take when I realized I still had that convertible and could carry my Treasure to the sand dunes where we reclaimed younger days A career finally arrived better late than never but by then I wasn't looking for any job to give my life purpose How quickly tempus fugit My daughter called last month and we talked for an hour before I invited her for dinner but she said she couldn't make it because she just landed her dream job in Norway and was speaking from Bergen and was going to tell me before I bludgeoned her with the meatloaf recipe My back twinges and hasn't felt quite right since the leg got broken but now I'm bothered more by the daily medications for problems I didn't until recently know existed and the regular routine doctor visits but I have my Treasure with me always and I know I can be a parent again even at my age to two faces a man and a woman dad and mom Even I don't believe it but the convertible is still here even after so many other cars have come and gone And coming going Like the Mystical Shamrock talk leads the mind to stray or directly into those burbling tides where you spend time with your own angelfish or brother or sister or own broken leg or Sonny or Brian and Sherry or Treasure or fantasies of idyllic summers in Norway Places where maybe life begins anew Yes, life What is life? Some call it sacred