Found a buckeye in the woods right at the toe of my boot
and I liked to think that it was lucky, auspicious, held
some meaning, though I could not now say what
and a small amount of research yields nothing along those lines.
Of course they are pretty, smoothly soothing in the hand.
Forever searching for signs and significance without
any very firm beliefs beyond my own amorphous ideas,
I’ve placed the buckeye next to my small Ganesh
and three special rocks on my desk.
I do not believe in Heaven and Hell or the devil
though I like to think there might be angels.
I do believe that some part of us goes on again
and again coming back to take another fleshly body
out for a spin, figuring out something new or important.
I do not believe that everything happens for a reason
or that there are no mistakes. Really? Everything? And none?
I do not believe God doesn’t give me anything I cannot handle
i.e., God hands out difficulty and pain as if to say
This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.
I do believe in God. I believe in miracles
small significances, luck and the power of belief.
I believe I can impart my own meanings to the
finding of a buckeye, the spotting of the great blue heron,
the shape of the moon, a chance encounter with a
red fox, a person from my past, a shooting star.
And so I will continue to keep my eyes wide open
as I travel through the world. Just in case of some
something of importance that might materialize
somewhere. Anywhere.