If ever my body should stop

where I cannot be of use or work

set me in this room

my chair facing out the windows

as I could not tire of the views.

In the morning, early, face me to the south

where the birds peck on the seeds dropped

from the night rain and wind.

The pigeons, the finches and the mocking jays

move from spot to spot and from tree to tree.

I will never tire of their feeding dances

and their ascents and descents before my eyes.

In the afternoon when the high sun touches my skin

and warms, too much, my face,

place me in the northeast corner where the shadows start to play.

And the vines reach high using the palms and the ficus

as ladders and whose flowers

the butterflies and moths and dragonflies

find sweet nectar to the taste.

As they flutter and zip erratically  

outside my window frame,

I’ll try to see and watch them all.

As does my feline visitor who does the same

from her vantage point on the window sill.

And we’ll gaze for what seems hours

until we both fall quietly into a nap

while the creatures and the breezes still move outside our closed eyes.

When I awake from my slumber, later in the afternoon,

move my chair to the southwest corner

where the sun is still fighting for sky

from its opponent the black clouds

that bring in the early evening storms.

I will watch as the hawks and falcons

glide the wind currents up high

in a game to see how long they can go without a flap of the wings.

And I watch and I count, deciding the victor.

My eyes will move to the clouds, carefully watching their patterns,

which way they go and at what speed,

to calculate if my home, my sanctuary, will be visited

by the impending downpour.

Or, if it will dodge west making way to the upper north country.

And when I hear the grumbles behind me,

I’ll spin my head around,

as I have full windows on 3 walls,

to see if my storm to the west

will meet weather coming from the north or the east.

Combining coastal air and everglade heat

for a possible intense show of light and noise and winds.

This is where I want to be

should I have no other choice

but to sit and gaze.

9/7/2014 Lake Worth, FL