A SIMPLE PROCESSION

"Parade of Clouds", oil, by Tom Brown

I sometimes see life as a procession of a simple but stately kind. I see myself and all my surroundings -- my neighbors, the splendid trees shielding our streets, cars carrying special people on the roads, the stars spreading above us each night and then vanishing in the sunshine – as striding ahead from moment to moment. We’re not going anywhere, just always going, always up-and-coming, always successful. Simply walking down the aisles of a store to purchase groceries, I’m in a procession with the other distinguished customers, with the clerks who care for this life more than they sometimes know, even with the millions of microbes who share the store with us and spread around their imposing powers. Simply sitting in my living room as the sun starts to rise, the unpretentious parade goes on -- my breath bringing me life in a well-ordered way, the furnace in the basement pumping rhythmically as it does its steady duty.