Life in Transit

Life is lived in the in-between
In transit
Between coming and going
Between staying and moving on
Between here and there

And what we call home
What we call settled or contented
Is merely a resting place
A station for refuelling
A nexus for re-connecting
A junction for changing direction

The bus stops and train stations
The airports and traffic lights of our life
Are nodes linking us to our past
And windows peering into our future
They are choice matrixes
And platforms of destiny

At life’s stopping points
We bump into others and smile
(Or curse silently under our breath)
We pause long enough to reflect
To mull on our confusion
And share moments of clarity

So let us not be so impatient to leave
To wish we were somewhere else
Because life’s most unexpected surprises
Happen in the in-between
In the moments of passing touch
And the tangled knots of transition
Between boredom and panic
In the zone of chance
When the landscape is not rushing by

And love (the greatest surprise of all)
Is only to be found where paths cross
And journeys are re-routed
Where our most fixed plans change
And new destinations are contemplated
Love is seldom found at high speed
When we are looking for obvious landmarks
But rather when we are standing still enough
To notice subtle shifts in moods and patterns

Life is lived in the in-between
Amidst strangers who become friends
And friends who become lovers
Amidst lovers who become soul mates
And soul mates who make life worth living

And the places we think of as our endpoints
Are just launch pads for new beginnings
The time we spend waiting for our lives to change
Is the very fulcrum on which our galaxies pivot

Therefore, let us pay attention to the waiting
And be alert in the places of transit
Let us soak up the chaotic ambience of where we are
Rather than pine for the neatly ordered vision
Of where we could or should or want to be

Let us be where we are
Noticing the people and the smells
And the noise of the jumbled waiting
Alert to the feelings and the flow
And the beauty of the to-ing and fro-ing
Content not to be where we think we are going
Nor where we imagine we came from

Let us be happily in the transit of now
Fascinated by the overlapping of our world with others’
Of precious moments shared
Of fleeting smiles and knowing looks
Of orbits crossing that almost certainly mean nothing
And yet might just mean everything

Let us acknowledge all the forgettable faces
That emerge from the fog and melt back into oblivion
The warmth offered by random strangers
That leave us certain of nothing
Except that nothing is certain
And knowing no one
(Not even ourselves)
And yet knowing many so intimately
Through these fleeting connections

Life is lived in the in-between
Between moving and minding
Between loving and doubting
Between you and me
In transit
Life is lived
In the in-between