Let The Mystery Be

After decades
of considering
how behavior shifts
in light of circumstance —
of considering how concrete fact
trumps principle and opinion —
of considering how little
holds up as universal
and becomes parochial
and local
and particular —

how delicious it feels
at last to reach a point
where only today
do I realize
that yesterday
I did not judge
or assume
anything

about a couple and a child
moving slowly in single file
toward the swings
in the park,
heads down,
singing in a tongue
I don’t recognize;

and then
when I was humbled
into recognizing
my own self-congratulatory tone,
how resigned I became
to the work left to do,
to the distance left to travel
toward the day when I note only
what is necessary
and all I have to say is

how beautiful the park
and all its people
were yesterday.