Present--By David J. Kelly--Ireland

Present

Here we are, again. Perhaps this is the only place we can ever be … here. Even if our footprints have faded, we cannot escape the place to which they have brought us. The present transports us from one moment to the next. Though we may try to slow or stop our progress, we continue to move forwards in time, forever meeting the future. Today, perhaps, you can pause to consider acts of giving and receiving across the world, the emotions they convey, the memories they provide. In keeping with custom, here is my present to you ... here ... in your hands, between these lines. With the greatest of care, I have taken and woven time through these words; fragments of my lifetime, impossibly frozen, awaiting reanimation. Now (or in the future), should you find you need a moment away from the busy world, please remember, it need not be a moment alone.

David J. Kelly is an animal ecologist based in Dublin, Ireland. While his day job revolves around science writing, his light poetry and Japanese verse forms (haiku, tanka, haibun and haiga) have been published in a number of journals and anthologies. He aspires to publish a book of poetry one day, when he has enough suitable material. David is a member of The British Haiku Society and Haiku Ireland.