Time and light are kinds of love

The Word
Tony Hoagland

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between "green thread"
and "broccoli" you find
that you have penciled "sunlight."

Resting on the page, the word
is as beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning - to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical 
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

- to any one among them
who can find the time,
to sit out in the sun and listen.

I ran across this poem on The Wondering Minstrels, a blog that hasn't been active for a few years now but that is worth checking out just to get lost in the archives. I first read this post about a month ago and then promptly forgot about it. It got lost somewhere in the mess of my brain during paper-writing season. I read it again today though and was struck by the beauty of the poem. The image is so simple, and yet so powerful. This is a lesson I seem to be learning this year: that pleasure is just as important as anything else on my to-do list and that love is practical and necessary. I forget this often. It takes the simplest things to remind me though: a smile, a shiny penny on the office floor, a beautiful quote, a strain of music, a kind word, a certain quality of light. It is as if these things break through the chaotic mess of my brain and remind me that all is not lost and it is worth it to seek joy and love.