Humans have an uncanny ability to domesticate everything they touch.

Eventually, even the strangest things
become absorbed
into the routine
of the daily mind
with its steady geographies 
of endurance,
anxiety
and
contentment.

Only seldom does
the haze lift,
and we glimpse
for a second,
the amazing
plenitude
of being here.

Sometimes, unfortunately, it is suffering or threat
that awakens us.

It could happen that
one evening, you are
busy with many things, netted into your role
and the phone rings.

Someone you love is suddenly in the grip
of an illness that
could end their life
within hours.

It only takes a few
seconds to receive
 that news. Yet, when
 you put the phone down, you are already
standing in
a different world.

All you know has just been rendered unsure and dangerous. You realise
that  the ground has
 turned into quicksand.

Now it seems to
you that even
mountains
are suspended
on strings.