13. We Got to Stay Four Days

“We got to stay four days”,

said a girl in braids and bathing suit to me.

I looked back at her and smiled,

we were both on vacation,

and in that moment, we were free!

We had our portion of the good life,

the sun, the sand, the smell of the sea.

Perfectly curated shops and markets,

stretched as far as our eyes could see.

She said - “We got to stay, for four days”.

And with some sadness she smiled down at me,

from perched atop her Momma’s back,

like she was climbing on a tree.

I didn’t know how to respond,

my plan - went no further than my smile.

But what fumbled out of my mouth

I wish I’d thought on for a while.

This girl was maybe 7 or 8, with braided pigtails

tied up with those marble balls.

Her older sister - kept her hair natural.

I wish the words I spoke had been

more inspired-and-less-factual.

Because I clumsily said smiling back,

“I think we get to stay four days too”.

I’m not even sure on that math,

I didn’t take time to think it through.

She seemed well loved. Within a tribe.

Family. Four generations of women

headed home in a cramped-up ride.

To make room they offered me their extra waters,

but I polite-fully declined.

As for bottled waters I too was oversupplied.

But I wonder… if my eyes reflected the sadness

of the vacation ending dismay?

How we all longed for more ‘vacation’

free from worry, free from suffering.

Free! For just another day.

There was a sharing in the air

as we were untethered from life’s cares.

The weight of her words

they caught me totally unawares.

After my ‘four-days’ we were all back home

in life as we had known it.

I wish instead, right there, we’d hatched a plan.

Each gone back to a power-system and over-thrown it.

Because Life… should be lived free!

Freed from fear by

Just What Is within each present moment.

Freedom is ours!

It’s our preferences…

that make us forget we already own it.

We labor all year long for a couple weeks.

For homes, for stuff, for our ‘four days’.

Human consciousness though

exists to manifest love

not to chase this year’s

borrowed clothes and borrowed stays.

I helped the grandmother pack up her tent,

and wished them blessings on their way.

But I can’t forget her bittersweet smile

and young voice say…

“We got to stay for four days”.

Book: "Into The Now", (presale) by Arch Cowan Jones

Website: Intothenow.org

Instagram: IntoTheNowOfficial

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