Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Living in the Moment

We walk on frosted ground
praising chrysanthemums bordering the fields
sit on the edge of the woods
waiting for the moon to rise
not having to be alone
is happiness
we do not talk
of failure or success – Chia Tao, “When I Find You Again It Will be in The Mountains”

You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light
in every moment of your life.

This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,
there is no greater than it and now.

All forces have been steadily employ’d
to complete and delight me.
Now on this spot I stand
with my robust soul.

Welcome is every organ and attribute of me,
Not an inch or a particle of an inch is vile,
and none shall be less familiar than the rest.
I am satisfied—I see, dance, laugh, sing;
As the hugging and loving bed fellow sleeps at my side through the night,
and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread,
Leaving me baskets cover’d with white towels swelling the house with their plenty

– Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass – Song of Myself”