Dancing Floaters

​Lying on my back
on the bench by the fish pond
I see a clear blue sky
Not a single cloud
Not even a jet cloud
Or a faint crescent daytime moon
Only dark and grey floaters of my eyes
Dancing across a blue sky
 
Interesting! I examine their
Sizes, shapes, numbers, density…
Scenes arise from the past
Of the birth or discovery of each
Words arise in the eye-doctor’s voice –
“Floaters … vitreous detachment … part of aging!”
 
I pause. I breathe. I slow down.
 
Which way would this thinking go?
Three pathways open up
Like in children’s multiple choice mystery books
Vitreous Detachment Way needs the Internet vehicle
Not available at this retreat
Aging pathway is wide with possibilities,
Some scary and some funny, where
Imagination can run wild
 
I smile!
I choose to stay where I am
Watching the floaters of my eyes
Dance across the blue sky.

Mamata Misra
(This poem was journaled in Fall 2016 shortly after the Mindful Way retreat at Copper Beech Institute in West Hartford, Connecticut.)