It’s a Sunday morning
and Paul and I are out
on Kennedy Way
to cut our hedge
before the footpath
fills with pedestrians,
eager to enjoy
this sunny May morning.

Paul cuts the hedge
causing leaves and cuttings
to rain down on the foot path.
It’s my job to sweep them up.

Easier said than done!

A wind blows up,
picking-up my neatly-swept
pile of leaves
and sending them
chasing and cavorting
all the way down the road.

I shake my head
in resignation
but I have to smile –
the leaves and clippings look so happy
as they swirl playfully
in the May wind.

Seeing all of those leaves
blow away from me
makes me stop and think.

That wind is blowing the air –
air that always surrounds me.
I cannot see the air
and yet it is always there.
A bit like My God
whom I cannot see
but who is always there
right beside me
as close as the air
that I breathe.

And in the days to come
and life feels stressful
I remember those leaves
dancing in the wind
and I take comfort from knowing
that My God is with me right now –
as close as the air
that I breathe.

© Claire Murray, 10 May 2020