if angels have wings

why am i afraid of
   time?

do i count the grey hairs one-
   by-one among the numberless
   brown?

do i watch for plumbing faults &
   leaks? beware
   of aches and ambushes of
pain?

i must confess to
   watching my always friend, my
   partner across from me in the
   mirror, as he
   slowly ages, weeping
   away with
time.

yet i know his cheshire-cat
   smile, the one that re-
   mains when the stripes &
   fur completely dis-
appear.

haven’t you wonder-
   ed where the sun goes af-
   ter dark? how they’ve been
   hiding all those aeons? the place
   where all those storks & ba-
   bies really come
from?

if angels have wings (&
   every one knows they do) ––if
   unicorns never parade in pub-
   lic without their horns (& this is
   certainly true)

   then

there’s some big where that every one
   is going to
   & some big what that every
   thing fits
in.

it’s more mysterious than the
   source of the nile. profounder than
   the riddle of the sphinx. sexier than any
body. it’s

the basic adventure of
   every
   lifetime.

so relax your
   bones.
   let fear run &
   hide.

   open your
      heart
   empty your
      mind

forever’s only a
   single breath
away.