Just Being Here

Tugboats glide up river towards their twilight rendezvous. The trees on the far bank are filling with birds gathering for their nightly roost. I have come here to take in the calm, to make my peace. I never know what to say, what words to use that haven't been spoken a hundred times before or what to request when all has been said and done. My prayers now are silence, the same that lay at the core of trees and in the depths of the river. There is a joy that almost breaks the surface but seems to submerge when I draw near. The evening is all around and if I close my eyes and be still, I no longer know where I begin or where I end. It's enough just being here.