Two Tracks

A morning philosophical conversation

approached the hard euthanasia question..

A saddened room as several with tears

recounted their special tragedies..

their own close life endings..

Other reflections revolved around

considerations of laws and rights..

troubled preferences for dark 

decisions made now...

An afternoon wildfire with exploding fury

a sudden jump of canyon walls

raged into a city surprised..

Mass evacuations.. decisions right now..

demands of how to choose life..

Still many transfixed by the terrible beauty..

 orange..billowing.. burning.. chaos...

Assessments reach both forward and back..

questions of rehearsals for future nows..

inadequacies of many decisions past..

Somehow in our heat today.. a continuing

blaze not yet contained..

new  awareness..an urgent plea..
to experience life's beauty and
constricting pain.. already enclosed

in an expectant now...