The Free Zone

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And so on a rainy day, the life settles down.

Past the week of riding 10 miles a day. Back and forth through neighborhood known since a young child. On streets traveled in elementary school to play trains and small cars and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

But the future is now, and the rain settles it down.

The usual routes to the fan and down to VCU and round again past the museum and up the hill to the Libbie shops, then over to the Patterson route. The original road back and forth to and from the town of Richmond.

Up by the church with a security guard walking around it.

The grand pianos cascading spring flowers on the front porch.

The young women jogging or parading their offspring in pairs.

The brick buildings line by line, with new occupants, but the same since before time began.

The cafes and small shops closed and boarded up due to the economy.

And past the mobile machines covered in the spring green dust.

But there is more....

Fill out the forms that will feed the coffers. Estimate the cost of feeding the ones in need. Evaluate the health needs and cost and feasibility. Ponder the last quarter of life as the thunder roars in the distance.

Yet the land and shelter are owned and can not be taken away. The dirt and trees and rocky walkways that have survived all the years given promise of the future.

If it be short, so be it. If it be long, my it be restful and happy and fulfilling.

So many years of doing others bidding, but now the choice is one of being free.

Like when you were a child.

Awake in the morning to find new experiences without plans or meetings or orders.

Look up to the sky and watch the birds fly. They know.

Follow them.