Looking Backwards

Wind and Waves Redux (for Clea)

I almost died, she said,
I didn’t realize how bad it was
until I read about the accident in the paper
and talked to a surgeon who talked to my surgeon.

Along a terrible stretch of road
with rain pouring down,
nothing we could have done
about the other car crossing toward us.

I’m pretty tough
but metal propelled by combustion
tears deep into the complicated
anatomy of self,

With closed eyes, I still see the collision
but feel lucky, even that first night
pressing a button for painkiller
from a turned off machine.

My spleen was left in the hospital
and broken ribs scraped
against my lungs, in months
of aching recovery.

But I’m back again on this road
practicing each moment
as if the whole song of my life
plays in the space between each breath.

May 1, 2010