62
Private Eye David Mampel
Today I will be a private investigator of enchantment. I will follow clues like breadcrumbs out of the dark forest of my misery until I shade my gaze upon a thousand stars sparkling off the whitecaps. I will wait for the water to become still and deduce the sky’s reflection if only my eye be single and fill the whole body with light. I will disguise myself as an ornithologist and record the song sparrow announcing her presence before sunrise reveals her simple seeds. I will be a marine biologist watching how wind curves over sand on the salty shore and eases into a whisper through the driftwood pile I lean against. I will be an aging archeologist dusting off fragments of discovery, shards of seashell treasure humming in the universal spiral of my ears. And of course, I will find the gold amulets of expanded vision, as I notice veins in a leaf when I slow down. And then, and only then, will I solve the crime of broken breath and praise the unsolvable mystery of this blue winter’s day.