The First Time: Seeing the Ordinary

I wanted to learn something new

not because I didn’t know

but because I felt

that something important was passing me by.

I wanted to understand

not the world

but the moment

in which I stop running.

I sought looks I hadn’t seen,

words I hadn’t heard,

thinking they were somewhere else.

But today

I sought nothing.

I looked at

one ordinary thing

long enough

for it to stop being ordinary.

And then I

for the first time

saw the meaning.

Not big.

Not eternal.

But real.

Happiness appeared on my face

for no reason,

and worry

had no place to stay.