Mirabile Dictu by Peggy Landsman
![[Miracle of Life by Hager]](miracle-of-life.jpg)
Not quite ten o'clock--9:57 a.m. to be exact.
I haven't poured my second cup of coffee yet.
I'm worrying about wasting my time,
Disappointing myself.
My two hands can't get it together.
They're somehow afraid to applaud my best efforts.
No matter what I do, it is never enough.
Countless clock hands strike their poses,
Can't wait to tell me my time is up.
I need a miracle every moment.
To be a realist is to believe in miracles,
To believe that one day I'll be home
All cozy and warm before the storm breaks;
Not at the bus stop getting soaked to the skin
Cursing the umbrella I didn't bring.
To believe in miracles is to greet reality
One step ahead of the game.
Pride is always what trips me up,
Tricks me into attempting to turn
Every day to my direction
Instead of turning myself.
If there is a trick, I am not the trickster.
I must stop
All this nonsense with numbers.
While I am worrying about wasting my time,
Discounting all of my efforts,
Sitting like some wallflower subtrahend
Ultimately unsubtractive,
Time is having its way.
If there is a trick,
Time and again the trick's on me.
I myself am the miracle every moment lets happen.
BIO: Peggy Landsman's poetry and prose has been published, or is forthcoming, in anthologies and literary journals, including The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press), The Largeness the Small Is Capable Of (Score Press), To Honor a Teacher (Andrews McMeel), Hymns to the Outrageous (Pudding House), the South African Journal, Jewish Affairs, Calyx, Switched-On Gutenberg, and Bridges. She currently lives in Pompano Beach, Florida. EMAIL: comments@moondance.org