Hemispheres – or, there and back again

I started mostly right
The way things were thunk
The things that were done
More time in the right than the other

Then on to school
A forced migration
to the other hemisphere

Tasks to be learned
Order to be organized
Processes to follow
to a “T”

Right would interfere
But with grades on the line
the other prevailed

Away from home
still in school
Dwelling in the other
Everything scrutinized
Critical of it all

Analyze it till
it makes no sense
to do it that way
Only the way of order
Only what They will approve

It provides a living
all safe and sane
Just do it Their way
Play at Their game

Still continents shift
But we can migrate


As time goes on
Right invites me back
more and more

Forgotten appointments
Lingering in the garden
Lapses of time
Things once hidden, but not forgotten
begin to emerge during
my time there

Does age take us back?
Loss of worry, lack of fear?
It doesn’t matter what They say anymore?
Well, at least not today

So for me at least
This hemisphere is
Where I spend
More and more of my time

More interest in beauty
Less concern about time
Greater notice of others
Their whims and their quirks

Taking time to listen
And
there is lots to create


Processes and
ordered tasks
linger behind
in the other
They will always be there
And often I have to go back

There, views seem obscured
Focus is on the path
Don’t get distracted
from this task
for the next one is waiting
Though pretty much the same


But the clime in this
hemisphere
is challenging, inviting
A place to explore
A place of growth
A new vista exposed
around every bend
if I'm willing to labor
to climb

This hemisphere is a garden
encompassing all the seasons
sometimes, all at once
A place of toil
of sowing, weeding,
cultivating, reaping
Working hands in the earth

On occasion
standing back to look
at what can be done
Exhilarated
connected in many small ways,
with The Creator of it all

Yet some seem to avoid
even a visit
To purposefully stay away

So I wonder –
is everyone inclined
to spend more time
in this hemisphere
as they get older?
Is that part
of the Grand Design
by the One who created both
and yet, leaves us free to choose?