Here and Now,
Words by Julia Denos,
Illustrated by E.
B.
Goodell.
Right here,
Right now,
You are reading this book.
The book is in your lap,
Or in your hands,
Or in someone else's.
You are sitting,
Or you are standing,
Or you are wrapped up in a bed.
Under your bum,
Under your feet,
Is a seat,
A floor.
Or a cloud,
If you are on an airplane.
And under all of those things is the earth,
The grass and the dirt.
The earthworms and the fossils,
The rocks.
And the earth is spinning in the middle of space.
We don't know why,
But it is.
And you are too.
Right here,
Right now,
While you are reading this book,
Many,
Many things are happening.
Rain is forming in the belly of a cloud.
An ant has finished its home on the other side of the planet.
Somewhere a telephone is ringing.
An idea is blooming.
Grass is pushing up through cement.
A friend you haven't met yet is sitting down to dinner.
There are animals,
Wild ones,
And tame,
Living and breathing all around you.
Muscles are growing.
Cities are growing.
Babies are growing.
Cuts and broken bones are sewing up and healing.
Unseen work is being done.
Right here,
Right now,
You are becoming.
Isn't it wonderful?
The end.