Things I would like to be, just for a moment

I would like to be the blanket a newbo
baby is wrapped in, as she falls asleep next to her loving mother and father.

I would like to be the teddy bear a sleeping boy hugs as his father carries him from the car after paying a late-night visit to family.

I would like to be a shiny, new 50 cent-piece a little girl finds under her pillow after she loses her first tooth.

I will like to be the look a young boy gives his grandfather the first time he successfully skips a stone across a pond.

I would like to be the stamp a boy, filled with inspiration, puts on the envelope containing a love letter.

I would like to be the mailbox, on a busy street corner, that same boy now stands in front of, as he holds the letter, filled with doubt, afraid to release it.

I would like to be the tear of joy running down the old woman's cheek, standing at the window of the diner behind the boy at that mailbox, somehow comprehending the situation, and remembering the first love letter she received, sending a silent plea to the boy, "Mail it child!! Let your heart run free!!"

I would like to be the deluxe sandwich the owner of the diner gives to the homeless man who only had money for soup, after seeing the smile on the woman's face after the boy mailed his letter, and while not knowing what had happened, suddenly gets a feeling that there is more to life than meets the eye.

I would like to be the love letter the young girl receives in the mail from the young boy she has had a crush on, but has been too shy to talk to.

I would like to be the sacred ground elephants go to when they know it is time to die.

I would like to be the first, tender, long embrace from a man, received by a woman who has been sexually abused and feels it may be safe to trust again.

I would like to be the sudden realization in that same man's mind of the tremendous strength and courage it took her to get to that point and to honor her for that.

I would like to be the moment of inspiration when a person first believes that they, as a soul, may be more than their own self-concept.

I would like to be the cries of encouragement geese give to the leader, as they fly across the sky.

I would like to be the frustration in a man's mind that grapples with the concept that each moment is sacred, even that moment filled with frustration.

I would like to be the phone call by a daughter who called her father just to say she loved him, one instant after the man prayed, with a gun to his head, "God, give me one reason why I shouldn't pull this trigger."

I would like to be a painting on a museum wall that stirs something in a child, inspiring him to develop his talent for art.

I would like to be the full moon, on a clear night.

I would like to be the dark side of the moon.

I would like to be the lock of hair an old man gently moves off the sleeping, wrinkled face of his loving wife of many years.

I would like to be the joy in that same man's heart as he realizes she looks more beautiful to him now than when he first laid eyes on her.

I would like to be the flowers that same woman places, years later, at the grave of her husband and says, "Thank you for loving me, just as I am."

I would like to be a wolf, a long time ago, watching with compassion an American Indian Medicine Man on a vision quest, having a vision that while his tribe is about to be slaughtered by the white man, the white men's descendents will come to embrace many aspects of the red man's own beliefs regarding the sacredness of the earth and all her creatures. That in many ways, perhaps even some of the most important ways, the white men's descendents will be more like the red man than the men they descended from.

I would like to be a beam of light from the sun that goes out into deep space, just to see what wonders lie out there.