I have squandered time and money
Perhaps the payoff from enforced austerity
Is spiritual enrichment
I spent today in the music theory of Slonimsky’s complex altered scales
Yesterday was charged with Bach’s glory and Walt Whitman’s grandeur
I may invest time in Homer tomorrow, sipping tea
The occupation and wage cut I now live with affords
Much leisure to occupy at little expense
Like walks I take, aware of the air I breathe
Thankful for the distant fire above
That basks my welcoming body with brilliant warmth
While I partake the sacred water I exert
Feeling my footfall on the heavy earth that sustains my moment,
The dawning realization that spirit is not mind alone
But also the grateful tears that mark acknowledgment
Of the loan we call life
Concerning which, bank transactions have no interest
David Fekete 