Silent Poetry Reading: "Otherwise"

I would define, in brief, the Poetry of words
as the Rhymical Creation of Beauty.
-Edgar Allen Poe

I'm joining in the Blogger's Silent Poetry Reading, started by Grace's Poppies; I read about it at Yarn Harlot. It's a one-day only special.

I heard this poem on Garrison's Keillor's Good Poems, my current driving companion, and its simple grace keeps coming back to me all week.

Otherwise
by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

The photo is reason #437 I'm glad that, today, it is not otherwise. In the Navy, even annoying paperwork has a fun drive and a great view: Newport Pell Bridge, Narragansett Bay.