They’ve been there, all of them, all along
set down on my path like protective pawns
conspiring to bring me to the right thing
at the exact place at the precise moment
when all the bright imaginings have come together
to move me toward purpose or away from disaster.
Some I’ve recognized
as teachers disguised as lovers.
Others have barely brushed my shoulder, brief
degrees of improbable separation.
A few I’ve never met, the ones who may ask themselves,
have I been of service in this life?
They are not a DNA network, these people in place, but a net
of blessings without number
all standing in a circle, each holding taut a fragment
of my life, tossing me high into the air where I lose
all sense of purpose, compass needle spinning,
vertiginous free fall.  Just when I fear there
is no place to land, I am caught–  body,
breath, beliefs– knocking the wind out of me,
sometimes leaving bruises, maybe a broken bone or heart.
But always setting me down firmly to look around
and say to myself, for better or worse, so this is where I’m supposed to be.