This is a treasure…the torn and imperfect web of some night spider, now served well and covered with dew from the morning fog.  But I feel many treasures, often in simple things like the spider web or a cormorant surprising me and rising from the river inlet and passing close.  From a distance that dark bird is a treasure. Don’t try to hold one. That neck is fast and definite with a swing of the head wielding the beak it uses for fishing now in defense. You will let go. The bird will fly away. 

There is an old Welsh creeping climbing rose bush at the corner of the drive.  I spend time in the spring tying back the eager new canes.  When the buds come we await the blossoms. When the blossoms come we take each new one to hold and smell the fresh sweetness.  They do not last long. When gone there is a springtime snow storm of petals around the bush. 

Yet, these are not my treasure.  The treasure is being able to enjoy these things. You see, there are times when life takes from you, empties you and leaves behind a pit of emptiness you cannot fill.  So this is why the ancients considered the tummy the center of emotion, knowing when the heart is broken the middle of each of us is hollow, craving to be filled but nothing can take away the constant void within.  Oh, that is real.   I have felt it and lived through it over time.  At those times, the beauty of the spider web is seen but not realized. The sweet fragrance of the rose is sensed but there is little joy.  I step back from these treasures and have with me the emptiness..part of me is missing and I don’t  know how to get it back and be whole again.  The little treasures slip away.  I wish that on no one but we each will face it sometime and again. 

My treasures are well defined.  My God, my wonderful wife, my little family.   With those treasures in my life I may go to the river and look through the fog at beauty, or smell the rose, or laugh at the funny sound of toads having a conversation.  With those treasures, I am not empty. With those treasures I am greatly blessed. 

(This photo will be in my gallery soon, I am sure of that.)