between the breath’s

peak and trough

an infinitesimal point

of stillness

(less than a jiffy’s 60^th of a second)

between a pendulum’s swings

at the edges of its repeating arc

gravity grapples with inertia

and wins eventually

always

given air friction

drag force

(unless: think metronome
standing longcase clock
motion maintained mechanically)

at the top of each swing

before the pendulum turns

to return

a pause

in that stillness
we can slide

out

away from the war

declare a ceasefire

a truce in this tug of war

between the inescapable pull

downward

the constant push to move

this face-off

between what we can’t outrun

and all that keeps us running

the weighty dilemmas of history
at war with life’s

bottomless desire for more

life

trapped in clock

and calendar forced march

we lose circular time

the seasons’ reminders in feeling

that the planet

rotates on its own axis

revolves, inexorable,

closer to and further from its star

we lose the joy of that wheeling

the peace of fulcrums

of light and darkness balanced

while we

wild freedom

slip

out