Slow – A value
Changes with age,
Improves with time,
Shapes a new perspective - 
Rest

Impatient toe tapping...
Fingers drumming
Horn honkin’!
Appointment time 
Tick tock - tick tock
Echoes, “You’re so SLOW!
Hurry UP!!”
Arrived
Ten minutes late!

Teams picked
Batons twirling
Relay order set
Peer pressure building...
Ready, set, GO!
Cheering
GO GO GO!
Baton handed off
Clapping
GO GO GO!
Baton handed off
GO GO…. Sighing
Echoes “You’re so SLOW!
Hurry UP!!”
Finished
In last place

After school practice over
Dashed through for fast food 
Quick! 
Gobble down dinner 
Before you head downtown 
To meet friends - to study
To chat or to fellowship

Microwave reheated cooled food
Seconds later it’s pipin’ hot!
Seers the tongue
Blisters the roof 
Sends you scrambling 
For an ice cube

Then somewhere 
At sometime 
You walk through a portal
Without knowing you’ve done so
You ask what’s the hurry?
Or maybe, why hurry?

You don’t care about first place
Or last place 
Or any place in between
You just want to finish
To witness the completion
To maybe hear a clap
Or hear a few people cheer
You got this!

The fast food no longer satisfies
You enjoy savoring the lingering scents
Beckoning you to your kitchen 
Inviting you to sit down
Stay a while and take a sip!

You notice the child sitting across from you
More resemblances a grown adult
Than the baby you once swaddled
While their animated expressions
Tell the tales of their day 

Now you beg time 
To SLOW down
To pause
To let you soak it all in
For time to stand still
To halt the marching 
To embrace the moments 
Before they spread their wings 
And fly

Once they fly
Their presence changes
Captured moments
Come in fewer number
Over several weeks, months, 
Or even years

SLOW down
The things worth savoring
Love
Peace
Hope

Take shape in the quiet, gentle moments

Our heart, mind, and soul 
Catch our body
Then settle in for a long-awaited 
And longed for REST