Getting Old, Staying Young

[A-Schwarzenegger]

So i'm taking the recycle, coffee grounds, compost, container of collard clippings, and trash downstairs, in the dark, and i can't carry it all so i throw the tied trash bag over the railing into the yard, and i need the flashlight but can't find the good one anywhere.

I'm getting a little bugged, so i take another lousy flashlight and tote it all down there, and i'm burying the compost and collard clippings under avo leaves from the winds this week, and i go to turn the flashlight on to see what i'm doing, and i see i've got both flashlights, one in each hand....

So i finish dropping everything in their places and i'm going back upstairs but i get detoured into the darker part of the yard, and i shine the good flashlight around just to check on things in the darkened corners, and i look up and the brightest star in the black sky is right above me, it must be a planet, and i shine it at the planet, the good flashlight, and i swear, a part of me believes that they, somebody up there, on that planet, can see it, my light, and they are either annoyed with it shining in their eyes. or, more likely, they are delighted and enlivened and hopeful, after all, that whatever is happening, they aren't alone.