The basketball team is passing the ball,
I'm counting the passes with care.
Wait, a gorilla passed right through it all?
How could I have missed him right there?
I don't understand it! How can it be
That I can't even see what I see?
I sit down to dinner, I'm feeling quite famished,
My favorite meal I've prepared.
A few minutes later, the food's nearly vanished,
It's like my own tongue is impaired.
I hardly believe it, a terrible waste
When I can't even taste what I taste!
You tell me a story, I'm trying to listen;
My mind starts to wander a trickle.
At once I jolt back, feelings of frisson;
I'm here, but my brain is quite fickle.
I'm making an effort, yet it's so unclear
Why I can't even hear what I hear.
My wife in the kitchen is roasting a roast,
The flowers are set on the table.
A banquet of scents should delight my nose,
Yet I find them wholly unable.
You've got to be kidding! For real, what the hell!?
Can I not even smell what I smell?
I'm feeling focused while scrolling online,
All of my attention it's seizing.
The sun then goes down, temperature decline,
Yes now that you mention, I'm freezing!
Where did I go, did I miss what was real
When I just couldn't feel what I feel?
My ears have been ringing for more than a decade,
I only discovered last year.
My wife cuts her hair, she's wearing new braids,
"How did you not see it, my dear?"
The smell of a rose, the taste of molasses,
Would I know them if they appeared?
I'm living my life, yet not, it just passes,
Maybe I'll be present next year.
The beach of awareness, of all conscious thought,
One handful of sand we each take.
But my hands are empty, I'm noticing nought,
Eyes open, but barely awake.
At times, for a second, when the veil is retracted
I can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.
I see in those moments, when I'm not distracted,
Why attention matters so much.