Did I ignore the words
starting to ticker tape
their way across my brain,
imagining that I could
collect them later?

When, in fact, they would roll
away like spilled jellybeans, and,
needing to walk onto the next thing
and the next, and the next,
I could not go back and retrieve them.

Now, in the midst of running errands,
between the pet food place and the bank
and the sandwich place and the grocery store,
I sit in the parking lot and dictate
what is showing up, having no idea
if it is any good or not.

Not caring, really, just mindful
that it is almost Easter,
and jellybeans have been strewn
in front of me,

and, after all these years,
I have finally figured out that
the only sin is to walk by all those gifts
and not pick up at least a few bits
of sweetness.