Creativity and Responsibility

Aging is a process of gaining and losing.

Creativity has become

Second-in-command.

She defers to Reason and Responsibility.

Sometimes I let her come out to play. I see her

Peeking around corners

Eyes twinkling

Fingers pointing

Head beckoning me to follow.

My little artist and her creative partner in crime. 

These moments that once came so frequently and

At all hours of the day and night

Now visit me in the dead of night

In dreams

Or the moment my head touches my pillow.

Reason and responsibility insist that I count myself

Logically to sleep.

"Do not deter from your mission."

They insist.

"Be at peace. You need your sleep.

We do not know what time baby girl will wake up or

What crises may occur for which you will be

The foundation they

All cling to."

My doctor told me today that I am the heart of my home.

Not in a proverbial way but in

Truth; in practice; in "real life."

My mood, my actions set the tone

My family will follow.

I pray that I will be a good influence on my family.

That I will guide them well and

Teach them to be true.

Which truth do I teach? 

Creativity, or

Responsibility. 

I could aspire to teach them balance, but I have

So little. 

I am silent when I should speak. 

I speak when I should remain silent. 

Perhaps I'll teach them to be human. 

To leave a unique mark upon the world

No matter how great or small. 

We are infinitely insignificant as a species;

Insignificantly infinite as individuals.