FEBRUARY 29
An extra day —
Like the painting’s fifth cow,
who looks out directly,
straight toward you,
from inside her black and white spots.
An extra day —
Accidental, surely:
the made calendar stumbling over the real
as a drunk trips over a threshold
too low to see.
An extra day —
With a second cup of black coffee.
A friendly but businesslike phone call.
A mailed-back package.
Some extra work, but not too much —
just one day’s worth, exactly.
An extra day —
Not unlike the space
between a door and its frame
when one room is lit and another is not,
and one changes into the other
as a woman exchanges a scarf.
An extra day —
Extraordinarily like any other.
And still
there is some generosity to it,
like a letter re-readable after its writer has died.
From The Beauty by Jane Hirshfield (via Brain Pickings)
By date at least, I only have half birthdays once every 4 years. Today is my 10th half birthday. Weird. I know half birthdays are something for kids…but with mine being on the leap day…its kind of interesting to me in a way I can’t quite explain.
I’m not quite sure whether or not an extra day is a gift or a curse this year yet. That will be something to be determined later. I am still hopeful that 2016 will be a good year.
