Icebumps

I plunged

headfirst into the chilled Atlantic,

on a beach just outside the main city frills of Boston.

Shivering to the bone, my teeth clattering

I stayed in for an hour.

The sun's warmth made things better

but not enough to make me feel

like a cup out of a microwave.

I embraced the ice goosebumps and the waves

and (inner child, is that you?) dunked right inside a big one.

Did I just clear my head through my skull to my brain?

I was told later it resets the 'parasympathetic nervous system'.

That's what it was! But verbiage aside, it did feel like a reset.

The other two stood on the beach,

fully clothed

but with their feet in the shallowest film of the ocean water caressing the beach.

Fleeting As Snow

I dreamed of snow today

White, flaky stardust snow

Blanketing life and pessimism.

It brought forth shades of comfort

That were obsolete since the last snow

In men, women and children

And made them calmer, kinder and filled them with song, dance and frolic.

All of that

until it was time

to clear the driveway,

to drive to the market,

To go to work,

To go to school,

To feel bogged down by 700 layers of clothing every time.

This exhilaration is almost as fleeting as the snow.

The End

In the end

You're left with something amazing.

And by 'in the end'

I mean the end of the day.

Because you may have lost time

In the sense of the construct

But you gained one more day

Of beautiful experiences

from things you might not have even

thought were worthwhile.

Pause and take that with you

like the night takes the sun.