Blink

There it is.

That moment between the sleepwalking and hazy eyed living

With a jolt, I wake

And for the briefest moment

Half a butterfly flutter

I see.

Life clicks into place

Like a child snapping the last button on a winter coat

A puzzle piece connects snugly

A tossed ball hovers between inertia and gravity

The camera focuses

The sunset flashes green

I stand frozen in the present

A deer with her ears pricked

Everything is unbelievably real.

And then, just as quickly

I am clawed back into the clamor of funhouse mirrors

As if grasping the moment only made it slip away faster

Sweaty palms slip off the monkey bars

I plunge back into the ocean, fighting the riptide that pulls me further out to sea

The present winks away

And the future and past resume their tug-of-war