This is NOW!

This is NOW...
     
Humans invent and live "the past"
   and "the future" ---
both illusions of the mind,
but NOW is the experience
of everyone and everything.

How many species consider "tomorrow" ---
    or the "future" in any sense?

Does grass compare itself to a tree?
Does a tree flinch at the filch of a finch ---
   or at the violent kiss of a woodpecker?

When does a clam plan its day ---
   or the brainless starfish its route?

We live only in the NOW,
and no matter how much
we contemplate the past
or dream the future,
there is only NOW ---
for every one and
for everyone of us ---
all God's children, great and small.

                                                 agd