I love this poem by Michael Symmons Roberts from his collection, Drysalter. I take it as an invitation to seize the opportunities that life offers us when they come along.
Refuseniks
Who always have their reasons,
like the girl who sent the angel packing,
kept on sewing, combing, sighing;
the city planner who turned down
those hanging gardens, that colossus,
he who stuck to his grid come hell
or the ferryman at high water
holed-up in his attic, bottling ships
as neighbours drowned for one of a boat.
So this time I will not say no,
when the bell rings, the shattered dove
lights on my windowsill,
the stranger puts a note through my door,
when I find, in a dream, a new room
in my house I will force the lock.
